Overview
- Greece’s parliament approved a law allowing private employers to extend shifts to 13 hours under a scheme the labor minister calls voluntary, with a 40% premium for extra hours, a 48-hour weekly cap, 150 annual overtime hours, and up to 37 days a year using 13-hour days.
- The measure passed with backing only from the ruling New Democracy party and triggered general strikes and large protests, with public-sector union ADEDY calling it the abolition of the eight-hour day.
- Greece already records some of the longest working hours in the EU, and the new law follows 2024 changes that opened six-day workweeks in certain sectors.
- In Argentina, businessman Martín Varsavsky said a government draft contemplates negotiable 13-hour shifts modeled on Greece, with a ceiling of 60 hours per week and use on up to 37 days per year, emphasizing it is an optional idea in draft form rather than a confirmed policy.
- Circulating Argentine drafts also propose replacing severance pay with a termination fund, creating a bank of hours, allowing contracts in any currency, and loosening vacation rules, drawing strong warnings from the CGT and other unions.