Twice, on October 1 and Tuesday, Greece found itself partially paralyzed by a general strike in protest against a bill “worthy of the Middle Ages,” according to trade unionists and the left-wing Syriza (opposition) party.
Greek MPs discussed on Wednesday a reform of the conservative government that would introduce the possibility of a 13-hour working day under certain conditions ahead of a vote scheduled for Thursday.
According to the parliament's press service, after two days of heated debate, the vote of deputies announced for Wednesday will not take place until Thursday morning.
Trade unions and the opposition actually oppose the text, defended by the Minister of Labor and Social Security Niki Kerameus, which, in particular, provides that, for an additional payment of 40%, a worker can work up to 13 hours a day for one employer.
In a country where the economy has recovered from the financial crisis but remains fragile, this possibility already exists, but only if the worker has two or more employers.
“We are now giving (the worker) the opportunity to do this additional work with the same employer, without travel, with a 40% increase in pay,” defended Niki Kerameus in parliament.
She insisted that she believed “there are workers who are asking to work more hours.”
Volunteering
Legal daily working hours in Greece are currently eight hours, with the possibility of up to three hours of overtime.
The text is expected to be adopted as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' conservative New Democracy (ND) party has a comfortable parliamentary majority.
“The government is creating a real Middle Ages for work,” said Syriza leader Socrates Famellos, “a thirteen-hour working day, from morning to evening, night and day.”
But this provision will only apply for “up to 37 days a year, or approximately three days a month,” and on a voluntary basis, the labor minister reiterated.
She also denounced the “misleading use of the term '13-hour day'” because it “implies that everyone will work 13 hours a day.”
According to the Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), private and public employees took to the streets twice to denounce “the further exacerbation of an already deeply problematic situation.”
She argues that many workers will have little ability to opt out of working 13-hour shifts, “given the unbalanced balance of power between employer and employee, exacerbated by the insecurity that prevails in the labor market.”
In addition, opponents of the project argue that control by the Labor Inspectorate is weak.
Scorned
The unions also believe that the right to a mandatory 11 hours of rest each day will be violated, in particular due to the time spent on transport to work.
“Working 13 hours a day means there is absolutely no free time left to lead a decent life: to spend time with your friends (…), your family,” protested Dimitris Polyzoidis, a 37-year-old IT specialist who marched on Tuesday in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city.
Store employee Sophia Georgiadou, 29, condemned the “new attempt to legalize modern slavery”.
In Athens, Maria, who works for a construction company, is afraid that she will have to work more.
Employers “always find ways to impose what they want,” says the 46-year-old woman, who did not want to give her name.
In Greece, 20.9% of employees aged 20 to 64 worked more than 45 hours a week in the second quarter of 2025, compared with 10.8% in the EU as a whole, according to Eurostat.
Average working hours mask significant differences, and wages remain particularly low. In the tourism sector, during the “peak” season, waiters or cooks work long days, sometimes without any weekly rest.
“Excess work is not a choice, it is a necessity (…), overtime is often a tool for survival,” emphasizes the financial daily Naftemporiki.
Greece has already introduced the possibility of a six-day working week, especially in case of high demand in a sector such as tourism.
