It will come from next July 1st experienced in Greece there long week, that is, a work system with an extra day that will be paid with one 40% increase. The government of Athens has in fact decided to implement a new measure regarding employment after the increasingly accentuated labor crisis, effectively trying to combat a now cyclical phenomenon.
The proposal of the long week
While in Europe there are those who are discussing shortening the working week, seeking more for the well-being and happiness of workers to gain productive advantages, in Greece the government has decided to start experimenting with the opposite practice. There long weekin fact, is ready to make its debut starting from 1 July 2024, with the aim of combating the labor crisis.
In a sector where salaries are below the European average, Greece has tried to get to grips with a problem that has been recurring cyclically since 2010. And to do so it has thought about the extra day of work in the week, moving from the canonical 5 to 6.
For what in return? Obviously the more you work, the higher your salary will be. In fact, the long week was designed to encourage workers to make themselves available, with the sixth day… 40% more will be paid on a normal day and even more so if it is a public holiday. In short, a sort of “regular” extraordinary.
The new law is aimed above all at production categories that guarantee services at least 12 hours a day, if not 24 hours a day, but tourism is not among these sectors. In fact, the 5-day week had already been abolished for hotels and restaurants in 2023.
The long week will instead be in force, according to the law, in the industrial sector, so as not to stop production where possible, and in telecommunications. Some sectors of the civil service and some state-owned enterprises can implement it.
The criticisms of the long week
But the new law, as often happens, does not leave everyone happy. If it is true that the extra day will be recognized with a richer salary, the long week brings with it several “dark” points. Among these is the fact that workers they cannot refuse to work for 6 days if the employer requests it.
A novelty, among other things, which did not pass through any form of collective bargainingwith unions and workers’ representatives having no say in the decision.
The working week in Greece, by the way, is among the longest in Europe. In fact, one in 8 Greeks works more than 48 hours a week on a stable basis and on average the commitment required is 39.4 hours a week.
Opposites in Europe, from short to long week
There are those who go in one direction, those in another. In terms of work, however, at least at the moment Greece seems to be paradoxically going against the grain on a path that Europe is firmly following towards the short week.
While the rich countries of the Old Continent thinking about the short week, col Belgium which has already decided for the four days from 2022 and experiments in this direction are in force in Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Greece, on the other hand, surprises everyone.
It is surprising, above all, because more hours of work do not correspond to more workers, on the contrary. Indeed the long week it would limit new hiringforcing those who already have a job to work even harder, and leaving out those who don’t.
