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Economic recovery became a top priority for the conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. His strategy to try to improve Greece’s low productivity was apparently simple: work more days. However, extending the working day to six working days it doesn’t seem enough and now the Greek executive proposes increasing the daily work day to 13 hours. Unions and worker associations have not been slow to respond to the measure by calling for protests and a general strike. The working day in Greece. In 2024, Greece approved new labor regulations that allowed for six day work week for certain industries that operate 24 hours a day, increasing the weekly working hours from 40 to 48 hours. This measure already generated social and political unrest in its day due to the impact on the lives of Greek workers. The Eurostat Q2 2025 data reveal that 20.9% of Greek workers between 20 and 64 years old work more than 45 hours a week, compared to 9.7% in Spain or 11.4% in Italy. According to 2023 data recorded by Eurostat, Greece would have the longest average working day in the EU, with 39.8 hours per week, followed by Bulgaria with 39 hours and Poland with 38.9 hours. With 36.4 hours per week, Spain is just above the European Union average of 36 hours. 13 hours with limitations. After allowing the establishment of the six-day work weeks For certain sectors, the labor controversy in Greece has reignited with a Government proposal to allow working hours of up to 13 hours a day in certain cases. The expansion seeks to improve flexibility and reduce bureaucracy, but just as it says GuardianGreek workers denounce that this measure represents a historic setback and an increase in burnout and work stressreaching unsustainable levels. “You can’t push people like that; at some point there will be an explosion,” Makis Kontogiorgos, a trade unionist at a major technology company, told the British newspaper. The law stipulates that this extension can be applied only 37 days per year per worker, which is equivalent to a maximum of three days per month. In addition, extended hours are voluntary for the employee and overtime will be paid an additional 40% over the standard rate. The regulations maintain other established limits, such as a mandatory rest of 11 hours between days and a maximum average of 48 hours of work per week in a period of four months. A “voluntary” measure. According to has manifested to the Greek press Niki Kerameos, Minister of Labor and Social Security of the current Greek government, “this is an exceptional provision. The employee you have the right to refusewithout being threatened with dismissal or unfavorable treatment. However, union forces see this “voluntariness” of the measure as an open door to coercion by companies, retaliating against those employees who choose not to extend their working hours. “That is not possible without consequences, since the employee has minimal bargaining power,” assured to D.W. Theodoros Koutroukis, Professor of Labor Relations at the Democritus University of Thrace. Much ado about nothing. The union response to the measure has not been long in coming, with the call for various demonstrations in the main cities of the country and a general strikedenouncing that “this law will not improve anything”, assured to France24 Panagiotis Gakas, member of the construction workers union. In one interview with a local mediathe minister highlighted that only 0.1% of businesses used the provision of the emergency shift allowed with the six-day work week, which shows a low adoption of this measure despite the imedia impact it had before being approved in 2024, equating it with the commotion caused by the specific increase of 13 hours. The key to avoiding abuse. In the previous labor reform of the Mitsotakis government, the implementation of a digital card for labor control and overtime was approved. A very similar system to which has been raised from the Ministry of Labor in Spain and which is in the public consultation phase before its approval. As stated According to the Greek Minister of Labor, this measure has the function of recording real working time and has made it possible to detect overtime that was not previously declared: “In 2025, 1.8 million more overtime hours were declared than in 2024, just in the first eight months.” This will help ensure that the number of overtime hours does not exceed legal limits and that workers are compensated fairly. Minister Kerameus defends that this regulation protects employees by guaranteeing adequate compensation and avoiding abuses by employers, accompanied by safeguards such as guaranteed days off and protection against unjustified dismissals, presenting itself as a key tool to enforce the law. In Xataka | The working day is no longer enough: interruptions are forcing us to work during free time Image | Unsplash (dole777, Thomas Kinto)