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

Greece's parliament approved a bill on Thursday which allows employers in the private sector to extend the number of hours an employee can work, despite protests across the country from workers grappling with a cost-of-living crisis.

The bill, entitled "Fair Work for All," allows employers to extend the work day to 13 hours, up from the current eight.

Greece's conservative government, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, says the new legislation aims to make the labour market more flexible and effective.

But the proposal has already triggered two general strikes this month, with unions denouncing it as a violation of fundamental labour rights.

"The enactment of the 13-hour single-employer working week is the final phase of deregulation of labour relations. Together with the other provisions of the bill, they form the new mosaic of work based on burnout," the Civil Servants' Confederation (ADEDY) said in a statement.

While the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) trade union slammed it as a "tool of profitability at the expense of human dignity" and demanded the government stop legislating in the absence of society."

Within the European Union, Greek employees already work some of the longest shifts at an average of around 40 hours, compared to 34 hours in Germany and 32 in the Netherlands, according to Eurostat data.

Similar conclusions were reached in a similar OECD survey for 2023. That survey found that Greeks worked around 1,897 hours across the year, leading Europe in hours worked.

A 2024 Eurostat survey on long hours - defined by the EU's statistics agency as working 49 hours or more a week in a main job -found that Greece had the highest proportion of people in the EU working long hours, at 12.4%.