A general strike has paralysed Greece as unions step up industrial action against labour laws introducing a 13-hour work day in a country that already puts in some of the longest hours in Europe.
The 24-hour strike brought mass disruption to services across the country on Wednesday as thousands of workers in the public and private sector stopped work and took to the streets.
In both Athens and Thessaloniki, the country’s second biggest city, transport systems were halted, while hospital staff, teachers and other civil servants stopped working. The seas around the Greek capital were vessel-free as crews, heeding union calls, kept ferries in ports.
The pro-business government of the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has faced growing opposition over the proposed changes, with workers contending they not only ride roughshod over their rights but kill off any hopes for work-life balance.
The 13-hour day proposal is expected to be passed into law this month. The change would allow employees to clock in 13 hours, effectively extending their presence in the work place by up to five hours.
Standing in Syntagma Square in Athens, Makis Kontogiorgos, a trade unionist from a major technology company, said: “Greeks are already forced to survive on some of the lowest wages in Europe and now they’re asking us to effectively work most of the day.
“People can’t be pushed like this; at some point there’ll be an explosion.”
While the Mediterranean country has recovered from a prolonged debt crisis in which the economy shrank by more than 25% – and biting austerity imposed in return for international rescue funds – salaries remain well behind other EU member states at a time when the cost of living has risen dramatically.
At €880 (£765) a month, the minimum wage – though raised by Mitsotakis’s centre-right administration – is among the lowest on the continent.
Critics have spoken of longer office hours causing burnout and work accidents. Pame, a union affiliated to the Communist party, likened the new measure to “modern slavery”.
Labour market experts have questioned the wisdom of extending working hours when research shows such policies being detrimental to productivity and the quality of services and goods.
According to the EU statistical agency, Eurostat, Greeks work on average 39.8 hours a week, compared with the EU average of 35.8 hours.
Last year, the government caused a similar outcry by introducing a six-day working week, a voluntary scheme applied to private businesses in tourism and other sectors providing around-the-clock services. Unions deplored the measure as “barbaric”.
Since assuming office in July 2019, Mitsotakis has said he wants to make the labour market more flexible by reducing the power of unions, including collective work agreements.
The labour minister, Niki Kerameus, says the latest law has been designed to enhance that flexibility, claiming the 13-hour rule will only be applied in “exceptional” circumstances.
Defending the measure, Mitsotakis said it would give young people, who often work two jobs to make ends meet, the ability to put in more hours for a single employer.
Katerina Andritsopoulou, 55, an employee in a privately owned manufacturing company, said she felt compelled to join Wednesday’s protests out of fear that many workers would fall victim to labour abuses as a result of the change.
“While the rest of Europe talks about a shorter working week, in Greece, in the 21st century, it’s all about longer hours and wages that don’t reflect the cost of living,” she said.
“It’s terrible that so many of us are forced to rely on government benefits to pay for our heating and other costs. We’re not here begging or making demands. We’re here because there are a lot of vulnerable people out there who won’t be able to negotiate with employers once laws like this are passed.”
