# Greece's six-day working week

- **Episode:** [111](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/111.md) (2024-07-02)
- **Type:** news-roundup
- **Tags:** greece, six-day-work-week, work-week, labor-laws
- **Time:** 6:15–9:30 (start 375s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/111?t=375](https://truthliesandwork.com/111?t=375)

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[6:15] Al Elliott: Well, some news from Greece in The Guardian this week. The Guardian's a UK newspaper. I don't particularly follow it for its political views, but I have to be honest, it is some of the best writing and the best articles out there. And this is where the government of Greece have just announced a big change in the working week. Lots of countries are experimenting with shorter working weeks. And in fact, we've had lots of experts on here talking about the 4-day workweek, including Joe O'Connor, who is the founder of it. Just skip back to about the sort of 40s, somewhere around there for the episodes, and you'll see Joe's episode. But Greece is going the other way by introducing a 6-day working week, bumping the total up to 48 hours. Prime Minister— this is going to be fun—
[6:58] Leanne Elliott: Prime Minister Kyriakos You can do it. I've got you. You can do it. I believe in you
[7:03] Al Elliott: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
[7:07] Leanne Elliott: One more time. Go on
[7:09] Al Elliott: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says this move is necessary because of Greece's shrinking population and a shortage of skilled workers. I'm not sure I'm following this logic here. He believes by having the option to work an extra day or put in a few more hours each day, it'll give you a nice 40% pay boost for those extra hours. So, um, I'm not sure the maths works on that, but then let's be honest, Greece has never been great with working out maths when it comes to money. They almost went bankrupt 10 years ago. Anyway, so this, he hopes that this will bring Greece back in line with other European countries in terms of what people are earning. But not everyone is on board with this idea. Unsurprisingly, unions, workers, lots of people are up in arms calling the new measure barbaric and arguing it will roll back longstanding workers' rights. They're concerned that without proper oversight, employers will start demanding these extra hours, effectively ending the traditional 5-day workweek. That makes sense because if it's now in law that you can get people to work 6 days a week, well, why, why wouldn't you if you were one of those bad bosses? So despite the assurance from the government, this new rule is worker-friendly and growth-orientated. Very few people are convinced. They point out better productivity comes from better working conditions, better quality of life, not more hours at work. And we know this. We know this, listener, don't we?
[8:25] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[8:26] Al Elliott: To put it into context, Greeks already work the longest hours in Europe, about 41 hours a week, yet they get paid significantly less. The opposition argues that this could worsen the brain drain and be particularly unfair to young Greeks who are struggling to find jobs. They would— you'll find a lot from southern, southern Europe, a lot of people tend to go to Germany because that's where they think the best places are, the best jobs are. But unfortunately, also, it's quite a bit more expensive than Greece. So, not sure there's a net gain there. So while the government pushes for more workdays to tackle economic issues, many are left wondering if this really is the best way forward. I am unconvinced. Leanne, what do you think?
[9:02] Leanne Elliott: I too am unconvinced, Al. Do you know what, it just— again, is it not just putting it on an individual to solve a systemic problem?
[9:10] Al Elliott: Oh yeah, nice
[9:11] Leanne Elliott: You know, people working an extra day a week is not gonna suddenly fix the, the GDP or however economics work, and you know what I mean? Like, it's not going to bring us any new opportunities or new business or stimulate Growth. If you're— just because people are working, um, 6 days a week, it, it probably means if people are earning more, they're paying more taxes