Greece passes law extending the working week to six days and liberalizing working hours

He Greek parliament approved this Friday new labor law promoted by the Conservative government that allows companies to impose a sixth working day and vary employee schedules to suit production needs.

The reform was supported by the 158 deputies, out of a total of 300, that the conservative New Democracy, of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has after last June’s elections, while all opposition parties voted against it, since the far right became the radical left.

During an intervention in parliament ahead of the vote, Labor Minister Adonis Georgiadis defended his bill, assuring that “it eliminates neither the eight-hour working day nor the five-day (week).” The government says the law makes the schedule more flexible to reduce work and undeclared overtime, thereby protecting workers.

The reform allows workers to voluntarily have a second job, for up to five hours a day, in addition to their main activity of eight hours a day.

In addition, it is stipulated that companies in various sectors can impose a sixth working day, with employees receiving an extra 40% on the daily wage.

Although the reform shows that this can happen “in exceptional circumstances”, both the labor unions and the opposition claims that the law will make six working days a week commonplace in practice, also taking into account “almost non-existent” labor inspections.

Likewise, the reform introduces contracts for “on-call workers” who will practically have no fixed schedule, but will work when their employer requires it, provided they are given at least 24 hours’ notice.