Companies are understaffed and do struggling to find new qualified workers and so there is nothing left to do but establish a six-day work week. This is the solution they will experience in Greece from next July 1st, when, as reported The Republica labor law will come into force approved in September 2023.
In detail, the legislation extends from forty to forty-eight hours the weekly working period, spreading them out in eight-hour shifts each. It concerns in particular certain industrial and manufacturing production sites, as well as companies providing services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, workers in the sectors are excluded of catering and tourism.
Greece is one of the European countries with the highest number of hours worked and has come to exploit greatlyin some circumstances without recognizing it, overtime work. At the basis of this data there are two factors: on the one hand, the very positive economic moment demonstrated by an analysis by DW which predicts a growth in GDP 2.2% this year and 2.3% for 2025, while unemployment falls below double digits. On the other side, the consequences of austeritywhich have led many young workers to abandon the country to seek their fortune elsewhere.
In fact, for many Greek workers the new law on the six-day working week does not provide essential changes in daily lifebut opens the doors to greater guarantees. The law will in fact make extra work systematic, providing for a salary increased by 40% compared to the basic one in the additional eight hours, of 115% (without the possibility of overtime) if they are worked on a holiday. A godsend for a country that, despite having raised the minimum monthly wage for the fourth time in five years, the last one at 830 eurosstill pays the price for the impoverishment caused from huge inflation.
