A church in Anafiotika neighborhood, a component of the aged historical neighborhood referred to as Plaka, in Athens, Greece on March 16th, 2024.
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Greece has controversially launched a 6-day doing work week for some companies in a bid to boost productiveness and employment in the southern European country.
The regulation, which came into force on July 1, bucks a world trend of firms exploring a shorter working 7 days.
Less than the new laws, which was passed as part of a broader established of labor legal guidelines final 12 months, personnel of non-public organizations that offer spherical-the-clock solutions will reportedly have the option of doing the job an added two hrs per working day or an additional 8-hour shift.
The modify usually means a regular 40-hour workweek could be prolonged to 48 several hours for every 7 days for some organizations. Foodstuff service and tourism workers are not incorporated in the six-working day operating week initiative.
The professional-business governing administration of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said the evaluate is both equally “employee-welcoming” and “deeply growth-orientated.” It is intended to assist staff members not being sufficiently compensated for additional time perform and to help crack down on the problem of undeclared labor.
Labor unions and political observers have sharply criticized the shift.
A spokesperson for Greece’s embassy in London was not immediately offered to comment when contacted by CNBC.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis Primary Minister of Greece talks with media through European Council Meeting on June 27, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium.
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Giorgos Katsambekis, a lecturer in European and global politics at the U.K.’s Loughborough University, described the Greek government’s introduction of the labor regulation as “a main step again” for a workforce that is currently operating the longest hrs in the European Union.
Workers in Greece get the job done far more than all those in the U.S., Japan and many others in the 27-member EU, according to information from the Group for Financial Cooperation and Progress.
Greek staff members had been observed to have labored an typical of 1,886 hrs in 2022, a lot more than the U.S. normal of 1,811 and the EU ordinary of 1,571.
“Greek men and women already function the longest hrs for every 7 days in Europe. Now they may perhaps be pressured to do the job a sixth working day, soon after this Greek [government] final decision,” John O’Brennan, professor of EU Legislation from Maynooth University, Ireland, stated by using social media platform X on Monday.
“It is ridiculous, established against the move to 4 working day months in most civilised nations,” he extra.
A report printed by assume tank Autonomy before this calendar year identified that most corporations included in the world’s biggest demo of a four-day functioning 7 days had designed the coverage long lasting.
All the consulted task administrators and CEOs of the businesses included in the demo reported a 4-day doing the job week experienced a positive result on their firm, with more than 50 % describing the impression as “really constructive.”
The report observed, on the other hand, that personnel — in firms in which the supplemental working day off was only weakly assured, or presented on the issue of meeting specific targets — experienced some considerations.