Greece's parliament approves bill extending working hours despite nationwide protests

Published on 17/10/2025 - 12:48 GMT+2

Greece's parliament approved a measure connected Thursday which allows employers successful nan backstage assemblage to widen nan number of hours an worker tin work, contempt protests crossed nan state from workers grappling pinch a cost-of-living crisis.

The bill, entitled "Fair Work for All," allows employers to widen nan activity time to 13 hours, up from nan existent eight.

Greece's blimpish government, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, says nan caller authorities intends to make nan labour marketplace much elastic and effective.

But nan connection has already triggered 2 wide strikes this month, pinch unions denouncing it arsenic a usurpation of basal labour rights.

"The enactment of nan 13-hour single-employer moving week is nan last shape of deregulation of labour relations. Together pinch nan different provisions of nan bill, they shape nan caller mosaic of activity based connected burnout," nan Civil Servants' Confederation (ADEDY) said successful a statement.

While nan General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) waste and acquisition national slammed it arsenic a "tool of profitability astatine nan disbursal of quality dignity" and demanded nan authorities extremity legislating successful nan absence of society."

Within nan European Union, Greek labor already activity immoderate of nan longest shifts astatine an mean of astir 40 hours, compared to 34 hours successful Germany and 32 successful nan Netherlands, according to Eurostat data.

Similar conclusions were reached successful a akin OECD survey for 2023. That study recovered that Greeks worked astir 1,897 hours crossed nan year, starring Europe successful hours worked.

A 2024 Eurostat study connected agelong hours - defined by nan EU's statistic agency arsenic moving 49 hours aliases much a week successful a main occupation -found that Greece had nan highest proportionality of group successful nan EU moving agelong hours, astatine 12.4%.