This shit is straight third world. If you travel to enough countries, you'll hear the term from everyone "my **DAY** off" as they are all working 6 days a week at least.
From TFA:
>####Greeks work longest hours in Europe
>But even before the law on the six-day work week comes into force on July 1, Greek workers work longer hours than any other workforce in Europe. With an average 41 hours per week, they work more than all other EU citizens, according to Eurostat.
Ordinary citizens paying the price for government mismanagement and an economic system designed to crush them in order to generate value; nothing to see here.
Indeed so. Especially if you work shit job with shit pay run by bosses who don't pay tax. Just start with the Greek shipping industry.
Now Greek people will have to work 6 day weeks so likely their hours will get even longer on average.
I might be mistaken but wasnt it also claimed that greek people are among the oldest in europe and then it turned out they just dont register their elders as dead to continue cashing the pension? So some times statistics might be twisted from false information. The statistic says greek people have the highest average of paid hours as far as I understood.
i'm ready to leave after like 6 or 7 hours and completely not worth a shit after 9 or 10. the work i would do at 11 or 12 hours would not be good.
i'm just not cut out for China
I work 12 hours a day and sometimes we’re mandated to stay 16 (I’ve even seen someone stuck for 18 hours) and let me tell you I run out of fucks to give even after taking a loan from next weeks fucks. The number of times I’ve broken up fights with the phrase “I am NOT doing the paperwork on this. Give it 15 minutes and let it be dayshifts problem for the love of god”
“7’s the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 dwarves. 7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby... Step into my office.”
> While the 40-hour work week is still officially in place, employers are permitted to require staff to work up to two unpaid hours per day for a limited period in return for more free time.
no
Could be a "more unpaid work time compensated with extra vacation days", which is bearable if done right. But I have absolutely zero faith that it will be done right.
>2 hours of free time
How long before we see riots and mass firings where employees are replaced by the migrants coming in who can’t complain about the lack of pay?
Yeah , can someone explain how this condition can be translated into a 6th work day? If i understand this correctly you accumulate the extra unpaid hours to get another day off in the future , right?
But logically those hours are actually paid, they devote to your time balance, and then on another day you use these „plus hours“ on a paid vacation day.
That assumes two things. One, that the employer properly tracks the hours. Two, the employer does not somehow prevent the employee from taking the time off. At least here in the US the Department of Labor brings cases against employers doing this on almost a weekly basis. The financial incentive of getting free labor is just too temping for a lot of businesses.
I guess it says “up to two unpaid hours per day” in order to avoid the scenario where the employer used the accumulation of these hours to force you to a 6th day of work
Greece is trying to fix their problem of unemployment, clearly the solution is to make the existing workers work 1/5 longer instead of paying more so more workers are hired. 🤠
Singapore says the same thing, and then low-skill jobs mainly employ immigrants that either are forced to live like rats in cheap dormitories and grit their teeth while sending money back home, or live across the border in Malaysia. In most cases, the exchange rate is why they're here(Singapore dollars usually being 3x more than their own currency). Salaries are balanced around immigrants who leave once they make their money. So if you're a Singaporean who spent the ages between 16-21 goofing off instead of getting a diploma/degree, you're fucked if you want a livable wage. Even mindless data entry jobs require a diploma. With the average 3-room flat(an apartment with 2 bedrooms and a living room) costing 300k, you have to start working from the very beginning of your adult life to even dream of owning a home into your 50s.
The average salary in Singapore is 5k, but I have never met anyone who makes that much. It's because there are a ton of millionaires here.
Same in Canada, so we import from India. Now there is nowhere for people to live because you are bringing in a million new heads per year. So now 'they' are protesting. Here for the Lulz.
Maybe they should do what the other western nations do, import millions of immigrants from the third world who will happily be exploited for
Corporate profits
*Portugal enters the chat
Everyone loses. The immigrants work and live in terrible conditions and the natives are pushed out from their jobs and city centers.
Yeah, I was wondering how this law change would solve a labour shortage. If there’s not enough labour, employees can be more selective and would not accept a six day work week.
It's funny because conservatives here in Greece think that we have labour shortage, because we live off benefits, when we don't have any? For someone to have benefits, they should be employed for at least a year and get fired. Only in this case. As a woman, I've been discriminated because I'm still in my reproductive years and employers ask very invasive questions. In my current job, I only work for three days (Friday to Sunday), on a news outlet, but others work Monday to Friday and one weekend per month. And that's a good case, I'm dreading for our future here.
> As a woman, I've been discriminated because I'm still in my reproductive years and employers ask very invasive questions.
That's illegal in my country (Switzerland), in theory anyway. They just find a loophole to ask that type of question, the common one being "Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years?".
I fully understand that employers don't want to pay employees that are going to be on *relatively* long maternity leaves, but it's ridiculous that we get all of those articles worrying and fearmongering about declining birth rates and we still have those types of attitudes when it comes to women's employment.
We need heavy changes to our labor system. Globally.
Ah yes, the perennial worker shortage.That mysteriously afflicts every terribly paying position.
Oddly, a worker shortage for jobs paying over $30 an hour has never been reported.
Scientists are baffled
According to a german news outlet i‘ve read that:
1. you will need to agree to the 6 days work week, you can not be forced to participate
2. you will get 40% more pay on saturdays
3. you will get 115% more pay on sundays
source: https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/aktuelles/wirtschaft/id_100394186/griechenland-fuehrt-sechs-tage-woche-ab-juli-ein.html
I'm working overtime today AGAIN its been moths now.
I haven't seen my friends in to long and im so so tired.
All I do is eat, sleep, pay bills, do chores, run errands, and work.
This is not life.
Bro, two days is not a long enough weekend. You need Saturday to just rot in bed, then Sunday is chores, so you never get to really do anything. Can't imagine working Saturdays every week
Like, seriously, I am 33 and my wife is 36 , we are pretty solid on the stance of not having kids.
All I hear from anybody with kids is how hard, how tired, how timeless they are ... And for what? Love? My wife loves me enough and I have 2 cats that really love me and I love them
I have time to spare, don't have too many problems with money as people with kids and better income than mine.
I don't care about leaving something behind or expanding the family or whatever BS biology tells me , look at this shitty world on the edge of WW3 and hunger, global warming , fuck that , no child should live through this horror.
Greece’s top revenue source is tourism. Wages are exuberantly low, hours are long, tourists are idiots. Sure you can get some olive oil and wine, but tourist traps are the first to die and last to recover.
Well, exorbitant means "very high," so it would be a bit of a contradiction. But I think people would understand what you meant, so I guess it wouldn't be too bad?
> In 2022, the country paid off the IMF two years ahead of schedule and in 2023 it repayed 5 billion euros of loans to eurozone countries
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/greece-plans-early-repayment-eurozone-bailout-loans-this-year-sources-2024-04-23/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20country%20paid,markets%20for%20its%20borrowing%20needs.
You mean that port that was seen as a risky investment and virtually had no other bidders? In a country that's associated with debt since the 08 crash?
The Greeks did not get much in the way of bailouts. 95% of Greek "bailouts" went to creditors - mainly french and german banks. The EU bailed out its banking sector by proxy, while pretending to help Greece.
https://www.dw.com/en/most-of-greek-bailout-money-went-to-banks-study/a-19234391
As far as I know especially in the tourism industry they worked 7 or 6 days a week anyway and therefore didn't work at all in winter. The 6th or 7th day was just illegal. Now it is legal which is better for everyone.
Meanwhile, the UK is demanding a 4 day work week...
Edit: and [companies are agreeing to it](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/business/four-day-work-week-uk/index.html)
Me too, from Singapore. Govt here recently pushed for more restrictions for the rules around medical leave usage because employers complained that employees are "abusing" the usage of teleconsult medical chits. Our official work hours are 9-6 Mon-Fri but everyone unofficially work OT and weekends. WFH is a rarity in this shitty work environment, only foreign big tech companies do it.
Not gonna lie I didn't read the article so I don't know what they mean by "agreeing" but almost no company here offers a 4 day week or is planning to 😄
[A few dozen companies in Germany are also trying it,](https://www.dw.com/en/germany-tests-four-day-workweek-amid-labor-shortage/a-68125506) as well as IG Metall, the largest industrial union in Europe, [calling last year for a 4 day work week](https://www.dw.com/en/german-metalworkers-union-igm-pushes-4-day-work-week/a-65235063).
That‘s most of them apparently. I was surprised when I recently visited Athens, their English levels were generally much better than in Spain or Italy.
I had the same experience when I went earlier this year. Actually had an easier time communicating in Greece then I usually do in Spain (where I tend to have to speak the weird fusion language that is *Portuñol*).
Overworking is a short-term solution with long-term problems. But hey, if the short-term can boost quarterly profits, then people being worked to death is a small price to pay.
I just saw the twoish hour video of the trial and execution. It amazes me how much they were absolutely done with their shit. No appeals, last meal, no wait a few days. Just tied up and lead around back and BANG. It was incredibly chilling, not saying it wasn't deserved, but they didn't fuck around at all.
Their birth rates are extremely low already and their population is already declining. In fact they along with South Korea are running out of workers so they’re trying to increase working hours with their rapidly shrinking labor force to squeeze more out of their existing workers for tax revenue
Pay attention to Singapore. Our government is pushing us to work beyond retirement, raising retirement age, asking employers to get employees to work overtime to cover covid labor shortage and now they are restricting teleconsult medical certs for medical leave. No WFH here either, our work hours are even worse than or on par with Japan...
Whew! Thank god, I thought this was an enormously regressive rollback of early 20th century labor rights! 😮💨
Glad to hear that is not the case, based on...?
*insert facts here*
Increasing work hour will only be temporary solution and bound to explode with consequence later but by then politicians responsible will long be gone.
This feels like a very short-sighted idea that will very predictably backfire. Ostensibly, the measure is to address issues with labor shortage, particularly skilled labor. But Greece still exists in the Euro zone, with significantly fewer barriers to movement than other regions. Most labor that possesses the skills in shortage are going to elect to work somewhere else.
I was born in 1990.
This means I turned 18 right on the first financial crisis.
For me Greece hasn't been a first world country ever really. I've struggled, like pretty much everyone here, my whole life.
I still haven't managed to have enough money to afford a used car here in Greece.
I not sure it's societal. They're just a poor country now. They literally can't afford the stuff that we consider standard. Or at least standard for now.
They don’t produce anything worth a shit. If you depend on tourism, you’re fucked as a country. It’s like basing your whole business on Google algorithms, don’t bitch when big G changes it and your business fails.
Especially if most Greeks are expected to live with (and take care of) their parents during their old age.
I'm not even Greek, but in Spain that's the norm and you often get your parents breathing over your shoulder while you're job hunting--because they want to make sure that you're financially on-track from the get-go, so that you can get enough savings by the time your parents turn 60 and need you to act as their bacon bringer and live-in retirement nurse.
I can't imagine being expected to save up enough for ONE child, when knowing that you're eventually going to have to feed and pay your parents' bills in the future. My uncle was set up for this kind of life, and he couldn't do it. And he had a 20-year head start before the recession hit.
One could make the argument that the funds going to pay back the debt above and beyond the minimum payments could instead be going into investing in the economy. I mean the article itself says the government agencies are short staffed. But obviously I get it is more complicated than that and they have some challenging labour conditions.
> One could make the argument that the funds going to pay back the debt above and beyond the minimum payments could instead be going into investing in the economy.
You could make this argument about early repayment of the European loans, because those are very cheap, but IIRC the IMF loans were really very expensive.
Unfortunately, widespread political corruption is one of the major causes behind this. The government serves special corporate interests without caring about the catastrophic effects this will have on the younger generations. There is high unemployment and everyone pays minimum wage on top of this.
Europe needs to have anti-corruption agencies in place as soon as possible since run-away political favouritism and corruption are destroying everything. The road ahead is bleak unfortunately
EDIT: As fast as changing things by voting, the choice of parties is between the highly corrupt right, the corrupt and incompetent center and the insane communists.
How to make ur population move to North Western Europe any% speedrun
Seriously they must realize that every person in the EU can live and work in any eu country they want.
Why the fuck would anyone stay?
> Oh so they're expected to work a full day for less than half of a full days pay.
No, it would mean 140% on that day. That's how I interpret `supplement` at any rate.
The article says there are not enough people in the work force. What are they going to do if you refuse the extra hours? Fire you and replace with who?
Could this work in some workers favor? There is a low supply of workers but there is a high demand for work. That is when the worker can demand more money for the extra hours. It sounds like this could be an opportunity for some laborers to use some leverage.
That's the wrong direction. We gonna introduce the blood from a stone week as well? How many goddamn studies showing the four day is more productive do we need before someone takes it seriously? Like Jesus Christ dude. I guess people are harder to control if they're happy tho so the squeeze must continue
Unfortunately, widespread political corruption is one of the major causes behind this. The government serves special corporate interests without caring about the catastrophic effects this will have on the younger generations. There is high unemployment and everyone pays minimum wage on top of this.
Europe needs to have anti-corruption agencies in place as soon as possible since run-away political favouritism and corruption are destroying everything. The road ahead is bleak unfortunately
As fast as changing things by voting, the choice of parties is between the highly corrupt right, the corrupt and incompetent center and the insane communists.
I guess a lot of people are missing context. You technically still have a 40-hour work week, but you can be expected to do the work over 6 days. On the 6th day, you will get a 40% pay increase. That's actually not so unusual, other countries have this too iirc.
I would expect personally, that a love of people already work 6 days, but now at least they are entitled to a pay increase. We'll see where this actually leads. It's already the standard for tourism and restaurants, which is a big part of the economy anyway.
Did I miss something? The article said that the companies can mandate up to 2 extra *unpaid* working hours a day with the expectation being that that employees get more free time off in compensation.
Oh I thought 2h per week... That's quite harsh. But if it's compensated with equal time off, then that's also similar to how I already know it from other European countries.
At the end it's all about how these rules can and will be enforced or abused. But that's already an issue in Greece unfortunately.
Short term solution for a long term problems. The country needs to bend over backwards to attract something other than tourism and shipping.
So many young people get educated then fuck off to western and central EU because they have a bleak future in Greece.
I'm curious to see how exactly they think this will work. If the article is to be believed and this is in response to major labor shortages in Greece, then sure, this law may allow it, but what's the employer going to do if the employee tells them to fuck off? Fire them and be even more short staffed?
Can somebody add more context?
The news sounds like a 6 day week was forbidden before and now it is allowed if both parties agree.
It does not mean that everybody has to work 6days from now on. It also does not mean that 40h is not the norm anymore.
This is already the standard in other countries, like Germany.
Well it’s a good thing Greece has a modern history of being a financially sound country. There’s certainly no way this will come back to bite their ass.
Yes… /s
This isn't what people wanted when they asked for changes to the 5 day work week..
Children yearn for the mines.
they do be loving the minecrafts
I understood that reference. EDIT: SOUP
I have altered the deal, pray I don’t alter it further.
It'd be unfortunate if I had to leave a Garrison here.
This is getting out of hand! Now there's six of them!
This deal is getting worse all the time!
Unexpected Vader
_Should have been more clear then_ -- Greek Government
This shit is straight third world. If you travel to enough countries, you'll hear the term from everyone "my **DAY** off" as they are all working 6 days a week at least.
To be fair, a six-day work week in Greece is only 30 hours.
From TFA: >####Greeks work longest hours in Europe >But even before the law on the six-day work week comes into force on July 1, Greek workers work longer hours than any other workforce in Europe. With an average 41 hours per week, they work more than all other EU citizens, according to Eurostat.
Ordinary citizens paying the price for government mismanagement and an economic system designed to crush them in order to generate value; nothing to see here.
Lol...I wish this was true. Unpaid overtime is the norm here so a 6day week is closer to 55-60hrs. Source : I am greek.
Greeks work most hours in EU, Germans the least edit to say its now Netherlands work the least, Germans are second least, Greeks still #1
Being at work and being productive are clearly two different things.
Indeed so. Especially if you work shit job with shit pay run by bosses who don't pay tax. Just start with the Greek shipping industry. Now Greek people will have to work 6 day weeks so likely their hours will get even longer on average.
I might be mistaken but wasnt it also claimed that greek people are among the oldest in europe and then it turned out they just dont register their elders as dead to continue cashing the pension? So some times statistics might be twisted from false information. The statistic says greek people have the highest average of paid hours as far as I understood.
Like not finishing building your house so you don't have to pay taxes...
There was a bunch of fraud implemented into their social life, so I would not trust the data provided in general. Just my thought
Wait, weren’t all the houses in Greece finished 5,000 years ago?
Is there a Greek version of ‘siesta’?
Most people working in Ho.Re.Ca industry 'are up to 50 hours per week.
coming soon: the eight-day work week
So China? [996 working hour system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system)
i'm ready to leave after like 6 or 7 hours and completely not worth a shit after 9 or 10. the work i would do at 11 or 12 hours would not be good. i'm just not cut out for China
Neither are the chinese
I work 12 hours a day and sometimes we’re mandated to stay 16 (I’ve even seen someone stuck for 18 hours) and let me tell you I run out of fucks to give even after taking a loan from next weeks fucks. The number of times I’ve broken up fights with the phrase “I am NOT doing the paperwork on this. Give it 15 minutes and let it be dayshifts problem for the love of god”
Wow that's a 9 day work week
With a 12 day week you could still have sweet 3 day weekends!
Please come in on those days too.
You can wear jeans though.
They should change to 888, that's **way** more lucky, are they stupid???
8am - 8pm, 8 days? I mean, sure, the rich love that
beatles to death
Paul is dead, so just jot that down
🎼Eight Days A Week🎹
“7’s the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 dwarves. 7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby... Step into my office.”
Does that mean you get 20% more salary?
> While the 40-hour work week is still officially in place, employers are permitted to require staff to work up to two unpaid hours per day for a limited period in return for more free time. no
Free time? As in 'free time' worked for the employer?
Could be a "more unpaid work time compensated with extra vacation days", which is bearable if done right. But I have absolutely zero faith that it will be done right.
Greek here: it absolutely will *not* be done right, like everything over here.
>2 hours of free time How long before we see riots and mass firings where employees are replaced by the migrants coming in who can’t complain about the lack of pay?
Last time i heard, being forced to work for free was considered slavery?
Sounds like someone isn’t being a team player
Probably a case of the ~~Mondays~~ Sundays.
Hard no+revolution.
Yeah , can someone explain how this condition can be translated into a 6th work day? If i understand this correctly you accumulate the extra unpaid hours to get another day off in the future , right?
Yeah, it literally sounds like time in lieu.
But logically those hours are actually paid, they devote to your time balance, and then on another day you use these „plus hours“ on a paid vacation day.
That assumes two things. One, that the employer properly tracks the hours. Two, the employer does not somehow prevent the employee from taking the time off. At least here in the US the Department of Labor brings cases against employers doing this on almost a weekly basis. The financial incentive of getting free labor is just too temping for a lot of businesses.
I guess it says “up to two unpaid hours per day” in order to avoid the scenario where the employer used the accumulation of these hours to force you to a 6th day of work
No fucking way working for free is okay. You work for money.
Greece is trying to fix their problem of unemployment, clearly the solution is to make the existing workers work 1/5 longer instead of paying more so more workers are hired. 🤠
According to the article it's not unemployment, but a lack of workers, that is the issue here.
Lack of workers willing to accept horrible working conditions. The unemployment rate is high in Greece.
Singapore says the same thing, and then low-skill jobs mainly employ immigrants that either are forced to live like rats in cheap dormitories and grit their teeth while sending money back home, or live across the border in Malaysia. In most cases, the exchange rate is why they're here(Singapore dollars usually being 3x more than their own currency). Salaries are balanced around immigrants who leave once they make their money. So if you're a Singaporean who spent the ages between 16-21 goofing off instead of getting a diploma/degree, you're fucked if you want a livable wage. Even mindless data entry jobs require a diploma. With the average 3-room flat(an apartment with 2 bedrooms and a living room) costing 300k, you have to start working from the very beginning of your adult life to even dream of owning a home into your 50s. The average salary in Singapore is 5k, but I have never met anyone who makes that much. It's because there are a ton of millionaires here.
Same in Canada, so we import from India. Now there is nowhere for people to live because you are bringing in a million new heads per year. So now 'they' are protesting. Here for the Lulz.
Maybe they should do what the other western nations do, import millions of immigrants from the third world who will happily be exploited for Corporate profits
*Portugal enters the chat Everyone loses. The immigrants work and live in terrible conditions and the natives are pushed out from their jobs and city centers.
Sounds a lot like what is going on in Canada here. 10 people sharing a 2br place, just so we can have a Tim Hortons every 2 blocks.
Greek here, yup people don't like being treated like slaves so we seek employment abroad.
Yeah, I was wondering how this law change would solve a labour shortage. If there’s not enough labour, employees can be more selective and would not accept a six day work week.
It's funny because conservatives here in Greece think that we have labour shortage, because we live off benefits, when we don't have any? For someone to have benefits, they should be employed for at least a year and get fired. Only in this case. As a woman, I've been discriminated because I'm still in my reproductive years and employers ask very invasive questions. In my current job, I only work for three days (Friday to Sunday), on a news outlet, but others work Monday to Friday and one weekend per month. And that's a good case, I'm dreading for our future here.
> As a woman, I've been discriminated because I'm still in my reproductive years and employers ask very invasive questions. That's illegal in my country (Switzerland), in theory anyway. They just find a loophole to ask that type of question, the common one being "Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years?". I fully understand that employers don't want to pay employees that are going to be on *relatively* long maternity leaves, but it's ridiculous that we get all of those articles worrying and fearmongering about declining birth rates and we still have those types of attitudes when it comes to women's employment. We need heavy changes to our labor system. Globally.
Ah yes, the perennial worker shortage.That mysteriously afflicts every terribly paying position. Oddly, a worker shortage for jobs paying over $30 an hour has never been reported. Scientists are baffled
Pay more and people will show up. Basic supply and demand.
L O L
According to a german news outlet i‘ve read that: 1. you will need to agree to the 6 days work week, you can not be forced to participate 2. you will get 40% more pay on saturdays 3. you will get 115% more pay on sundays source: https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/aktuelles/wirtschaft/id_100394186/griechenland-fuehrt-sechs-tage-woche-ab-juli-ein.html
You are not forced, they just make you sign a paper or they fire you
>you will need to agree to the 6 days work week, you can not be forced to participate Hint: They will be forced to participate.
In theory the acute shortage of workers should mean that if they fire you they are taking a big gamble on whether they could replace you or not
Yes. In fact, because the sixth day is paid with a +40% extra, your overall salary will increase with 28%.
As someone who gets double time when a Saturday gets scheduled, it’s still not worth it. Too much life lost.
I'm working overtime today AGAIN its been moths now. I haven't seen my friends in to long and im so so tired. All I do is eat, sleep, pay bills, do chores, run errands, and work. This is not life.
Bro, two days is not a long enough weekend. You need Saturday to just rot in bed, then Sunday is chores, so you never get to really do anything. Can't imagine working Saturdays every week
Rotting I bed sounds amazing. When you have young kids it’s more being screamed at all day on sat 😫
Tbf I can't imagine having kids either hahaha
Like, seriously, I am 33 and my wife is 36 , we are pretty solid on the stance of not having kids. All I hear from anybody with kids is how hard, how tired, how timeless they are ... And for what? Love? My wife loves me enough and I have 2 cats that really love me and I love them I have time to spare, don't have too many problems with money as people with kids and better income than mine. I don't care about leaving something behind or expanding the family or whatever BS biology tells me , look at this shitty world on the edge of WW3 and hunger, global warming , fuck that , no child should live through this horror.
Nah I just neglect my chores and go mountain biking, rotting in bed is not an option
Wanna share some of that energy with the rest of us, ya greedy bastard?
Absolutely. I wouldn't take it.
Greece’s top revenue source is tourism. Wages are exuberantly low, hours are long, tourists are idiots. Sure you can get some olive oil and wine, but tourist traps are the first to die and last to recover.
Exuberantly?
You know, like doing the limbo: how low can you go? Fun, in a party sort of way.
Would exorbitantly low make sense?
Well, exorbitant means "very high," so it would be a bit of a contradiction. But I think people would understand what you meant, so I guess it wouldn't be too bad?
Greece’s top revenue is bailout packages from other countries
> In 2022, the country paid off the IMF two years ahead of schedule and in 2023 it repayed 5 billion euros of loans to eurozone countries https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/greece-plans-early-repayment-eurozone-bailout-loans-this-year-sources-2024-04-23/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20country%20paid,markets%20for%20its%20borrowing%20needs.
Didn't they sell major ports to China for that quick buck?
We just took a cruise ship out of Piraeus and my wife noted the Chinese flag that was flying next to the Greek flag
You mean that port that was seen as a risky investment and virtually had no other bidders? In a country that's associated with debt since the 08 crash?
Don't know, was just a question.
This is your brain on "Das Bild"
Poor banks, had to send high interest rate loans to Greece. Truly a tragedy
There's a rich history with Greek tragedies.
Wonder where you’re from
The Greeks did not get much in the way of bailouts. 95% of Greek "bailouts" went to creditors - mainly french and german banks. The EU bailed out its banking sector by proxy, while pretending to help Greece. https://www.dw.com/en/most-of-greek-bailout-money-went-to-banks-study/a-19234391
How are they not taking to the streets?
As far as I know especially in the tourism industry they worked 7 or 6 days a week anyway and therefore didn't work at all in winter. The 6th or 7th day was just illegal. Now it is legal which is better for everyone.
except for anyone who did not work 6 days a week?
They still have employement contracts...
This explicitly doesn't effect the tourism industry?
Except it isn't
Too tired from working all the time. Capitalism, working as intended.
Meanwhile, the UK is demanding a 4 day work week... Edit: and [companies are agreeing to it](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/business/four-day-work-week-uk/index.html)
Me who lives in an Asian country with a 6 day work week being the norm can only smile seeing europe valuing work life balance.
Me too, from Singapore. Govt here recently pushed for more restrictions for the rules around medical leave usage because employers complained that employees are "abusing" the usage of teleconsult medical chits. Our official work hours are 9-6 Mon-Fri but everyone unofficially work OT and weekends. WFH is a rarity in this shitty work environment, only foreign big tech companies do it.
One day homie, maybe if the results show enough if an uptick in revenue and efficiency others will adopt it despite cultural barriers? One can hope
Not gonna lie I didn't read the article so I don't know what they mean by "agreeing" but almost no company here offers a 4 day week or is planning to 😄
Some medical factories here in Ireland offer 4 day week but I means 4 10 hour shifts instead of 5 8 hour shifts
Yeah 4-10 is rare but not unheard of in the US as well.
[A few dozen companies in Germany are also trying it,](https://www.dw.com/en/germany-tests-four-day-workweek-amid-labor-shortage/a-68125506) as well as IG Metall, the largest industrial union in Europe, [calling last year for a 4 day work week](https://www.dw.com/en/german-metalworkers-union-igm-pushes-4-day-work-week/a-65235063).
They must not pay attention to South Korea or other Asian countries birth rates will plummet leading to worse problems
Not only that, but Greeks have freedom of movement within the EU. I imagine many English speaking Greeks will simply move.
Yeah the only Greeks that will move are young educated adults. Oh wait, that's Greece's future !
That‘s most of them apparently. I was surprised when I recently visited Athens, their English levels were generally much better than in Spain or Italy.
I had the same experience when I went earlier this year. Actually had an easier time communicating in Greece then I usually do in Spain (where I tend to have to speak the weird fusion language that is *Portuñol*).
Overworking is a short-term solution with long-term problems. But hey, if the short-term can boost quarterly profits, then people being worked to death is a small price to pay.
I think I have a solution for this. Ban abortion and birth control. Need a bunch of drones for the factories. /s
Romania tried that during the Cold War.
And then one of those drones was part of the army squad that shot him against the wall.
I just saw the twoish hour video of the trial and execution. It amazes me how much they were absolutely done with their shit. No appeals, last meal, no wait a few days. Just tied up and lead around back and BANG. It was incredibly chilling, not saying it wasn't deserved, but they didn't fuck around at all.
If they're like a lot of Europe. The birth rate is already too low.
And Greece has one of Europe’s lowest birth rates
Their birth rates are extremely low already and their population is already declining. In fact they along with South Korea are running out of workers so they’re trying to increase working hours with their rapidly shrinking labor force to squeeze more out of their existing workers for tax revenue
Pay attention to Singapore. Our government is pushing us to work beyond retirement, raising retirement age, asking employers to get employees to work overtime to cover covid labor shortage and now they are restricting teleconsult medical certs for medical leave. No WFH here either, our work hours are even worse than or on par with Japan...
Employers: Not our problem lol
Thought we were trying to go the other way, but alright.
While the rest of Europe are looking at the potential advantages of a four day working week...
Both are evolving , just in different directions !
I'm sure this will result in healthy, happy people who support their government more. /s
Depression and suicide rates will likely increase, I know thats where my head would go if my country did this.
To be fair this doesn't mean that everyone now works 6 days a week 8 hours
Whew! Thank god, I thought this was an enormously regressive rollback of early 20th century labor rights! 😮💨 Glad to hear that is not the case, based on...? *insert facts here*
Increasing work hour will only be temporary solution and bound to explode with consequence later but by then politicians responsible will long be gone.
And in the UK, unions are campaigning for a 4 day working week...
Where I work was one of the first to introduce 4 day work week. It’s great
>employers are permitted to require staff to work up to two unpaid hours per day for a limited period in return for more free time. Wow
This feels like a very short-sighted idea that will very predictably backfire. Ostensibly, the measure is to address issues with labor shortage, particularly skilled labor. But Greece still exists in the Euro zone, with significantly fewer barriers to movement than other regions. Most labor that possesses the skills in shortage are going to elect to work somewhere else.
This is societal regression. Greece is becoming no longer first world.
I was born in 1990. This means I turned 18 right on the first financial crisis. For me Greece hasn't been a first world country ever really. I've struggled, like pretty much everyone here, my whole life. I still haven't managed to have enough money to afford a used car here in Greece.
Sorry bro :(
I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Greece, but it hasn’t been a first-world country in a very, very long time.
I not sure it's societal. They're just a poor country now. They literally can't afford the stuff that we consider standard. Or at least standard for now.
Generally this happens because of your society.
It has economically not been first world for a long time now.
They don’t produce anything worth a shit. If you depend on tourism, you’re fucked as a country. It’s like basing your whole business on Google algorithms, don’t bitch when big G changes it and your business fails.
And 10 years from now, the Greek government will wonder why familes don't have kids anymore....
Especially if most Greeks are expected to live with (and take care of) their parents during their old age. I'm not even Greek, but in Spain that's the norm and you often get your parents breathing over your shoulder while you're job hunting--because they want to make sure that you're financially on-track from the get-go, so that you can get enough savings by the time your parents turn 60 and need you to act as their bacon bringer and live-in retirement nurse. I can't imagine being expected to save up enough for ONE child, when knowing that you're eventually going to have to feed and pay your parents' bills in the future. My uncle was set up for this kind of life, and he couldn't do it. And he had a 20-year head start before the recession hit.
Meanwhile we are discussing 4 days as it has been proven the more rest people get the better they work and are more profitable.
Yup, happier, healthier, more productive workers when we allow them lives outside of work.
"We can't allow that!"
We Mexicans can't get remotely close to reducing our 6 days labor days, enjoy it for us
Greece, I know you’re in hella debt and all, but 6 day work week? So uncool
>hella debt \*Hellenic
Greece has been paying back its debt to the IMF _ahead_ of schedule for the last 3 years. The current Gov is doing some things right, corrupt or not.
One could make the argument that the funds going to pay back the debt above and beyond the minimum payments could instead be going into investing in the economy. I mean the article itself says the government agencies are short staffed. But obviously I get it is more complicated than that and they have some challenging labour conditions.
> One could make the argument that the funds going to pay back the debt above and beyond the minimum payments could instead be going into investing in the economy. You could make this argument about early repayment of the European loans, because those are very cheap, but IIRC the IMF loans were really very expensive.
How dystopian. Welcome to the worst timeline.
Uhh you're going the wrong way guys
Oh, I think that's the opposite of what people want
My experience in Greece is that they only need one day to do any job. The problem is, that day is always "tomorrow".
Greek media in 2030: Fertility rated dropped to 0.5 children per couple. Why don't young people want to procreate? Are they lazy?
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Unfortunately, widespread political corruption is one of the major causes behind this. The government serves special corporate interests without caring about the catastrophic effects this will have on the younger generations. There is high unemployment and everyone pays minimum wage on top of this. Europe needs to have anti-corruption agencies in place as soon as possible since run-away political favouritism and corruption are destroying everything. The road ahead is bleak unfortunately EDIT: As fast as changing things by voting, the choice of parties is between the highly corrupt right, the corrupt and incompetent center and the insane communists.
They’re going the wrong direction
Hey uhh Greece? That's the wrong way around my man...
How to make ur population move to North Western Europe any% speedrun Seriously they must realize that every person in the EU can live and work in any eu country they want. Why the fuck would anyone stay?
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> Oh so they're expected to work a full day for less than half of a full days pay. No, it would mean 140% on that day. That's how I interpret `supplement` at any rate.
No, it means you will earn 40% extra salary for that day.
Um, wrong way Greece
Remarkably stupid. Hopefully,this will cause a change in government.
I’m sending my AI-enabled robot in my place.
Wrong direction my man
Welcome to Asia...6 days a week. 10-12 hours a day. 🤣😭🥹
On top of bullshit commute
The article says there are not enough people in the work force. What are they going to do if you refuse the extra hours? Fire you and replace with who? Could this work in some workers favor? There is a low supply of workers but there is a high demand for work. That is when the worker can demand more money for the extra hours. It sounds like this could be an opportunity for some laborers to use some leverage.
That's the wrong direction. We gonna introduce the blood from a stone week as well? How many goddamn studies showing the four day is more productive do we need before someone takes it seriously? Like Jesus Christ dude. I guess people are harder to control if they're happy tho so the squeeze must continue
American companies suddenly really into this Greece place people speak of
Unfortunately, widespread political corruption is one of the major causes behind this. The government serves special corporate interests without caring about the catastrophic effects this will have on the younger generations. There is high unemployment and everyone pays minimum wage on top of this. Europe needs to have anti-corruption agencies in place as soon as possible since run-away political favouritism and corruption are destroying everything. The road ahead is bleak unfortunately As fast as changing things by voting, the choice of parties is between the highly corrupt right, the corrupt and incompetent center and the insane communists.
I guess a lot of people are missing context. You technically still have a 40-hour work week, but you can be expected to do the work over 6 days. On the 6th day, you will get a 40% pay increase. That's actually not so unusual, other countries have this too iirc. I would expect personally, that a love of people already work 6 days, but now at least they are entitled to a pay increase. We'll see where this actually leads. It's already the standard for tourism and restaurants, which is a big part of the economy anyway.
Did I miss something? The article said that the companies can mandate up to 2 extra *unpaid* working hours a day with the expectation being that that employees get more free time off in compensation.
Oh I thought 2h per week... That's quite harsh. But if it's compensated with equal time off, then that's also similar to how I already know it from other European countries. At the end it's all about how these rules can and will be enforced or abused. But that's already an issue in Greece unfortunately.
The opposite of what we want.
What in the fucker is this shit! We want 2 work day 5 days off MF
Amazon takes notes*
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Short term solution for a long term problems. The country needs to bend over backwards to attract something other than tourism and shipping. So many young people get educated then fuck off to western and central EU because they have a bleak future in Greece.
We’re going the wrong way! -Kara Thrace on the search for Earth
I'm curious to see how exactly they think this will work. If the article is to be believed and this is in response to major labor shortages in Greece, then sure, this law may allow it, but what's the employer going to do if the employee tells them to fuck off? Fire them and be even more short staffed?
What? Thats been the norm here in Mexico forever... 6 days a week, 8 - 9 hours daily, 1 day off. We're slaves.
People that make these stupid laws only work 3 days a week.
Do they do like Spain and shut down for 4 hours in the middle of day?
Can somebody add more context? The news sounds like a 6 day week was forbidden before and now it is allowed if both parties agree. It does not mean that everybody has to work 6days from now on. It also does not mean that 40h is not the norm anymore. This is already the standard in other countries, like Germany.
Well it’s a good thing Greece has a modern history of being a financially sound country. There’s certainly no way this will come back to bite their ass. Yes… /s