During Thursday’s debate, SYRIZA parliamentary representative Christos Giannoulis announced the party’s withdrawal from the voting process, declaring: ‘We will not legitimise the 13-hour workday by participating in the vote.’

The bill, introduced by the Ministry of Labour, allows employees to work up to 13 hours a day for the same employer. The measure has provoked fierce opposition, with trade unions and left-wing parties describing it as a return to a ‘labour Middle Ages’.

Giannoulis condemned the legislation in forceful terms: ‘You are class-based and cruel towards what expresses the many, and complexly obsessed with what benefits the few. We want our children to be able to live, yet you are depriving the next generations of oxygen. We will not legitimise this labour deregulation which attacks not only interests but fundamental rights acquired with the blood of other generations.’

He added:

‘There must be an end to your legislative arbitrariness, which has protected health scandals, embezzlement of public funds, illegal enrichment, a series of things that deprive us of air and light. We will not legitimise, by participating in the vote, the 13-hour workday, nor the rearrangement of working hours, nor all that you were ordered to include in this bill under the title “Fair work for all”.’

The session had been interrupted the previous evening (15 October 2025) when an MP from the Greek Solution party felt unwell, delaying the final vote.

Alongside the 13-hour workday, the law introduces new rules for ‘express hiring and termination’, allowing employers to register both with a single digital click, a change the government claims will simplify administration and reduce paperwork.

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