Hüseyin Zeybek: “Workers’ right to live with dignity is being taken away”
Hüseyin Zeybek, Member of Parliament for İskeçe from the New Left Party, strongly criticized the government’s new bill that proposes a 13-hour working day. Describing the regulation as “an attempt to turn workers into modern slaves,” Zeybek issued a harsh statement against the proposal.
Zeybek pointed out that the bill by the ruling New Democracy Party would legalize working hours from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., adding, “They have the audacity to call this ‘fair labor.’”
Condemning the government for being completely detached from the realities of the working class, Zeybek said, “If they understood what a 13-hour workday means, they would feel at least some shame. Under such conditions, workplace accidents will inevitably increase.”
According to official data, Greece already has the longest working hours and the lowest wages in Europe. Zeybek noted that half of all employees in the country experience burnout.
He also underlined that since 2019, the New Democracy government has continuously eroded labor rights, while profits of the top 100 companies on the stock exchange have increased by 500%.
Zeybek recalled a series of legislative changes over the years:
“In 2019, Minister Vroucis introduced a system allowing unjustified dismissals, leaving workers unprotected. Contract workers were left without security, and the collective bargaining system was dismantled.
Then Minister Hatzidakis abolished the 8-hour workday, legalized 10-hour shifts, and unpaid overtime, while criminalizing strikes.
In 2023, Minister Georgiadis introduced 13-hour dual employment and zero-hour contracts.
Today, Niki Kerameos continues this same policy line. By 2025, real average wages will fall below those in Bulgaria, and GDP per capita will remain 30% below the European average. Greece now ranks third-worst in the EU in terms of material and social deprivation.”
Zeybek also warned about the deterioration of rural areas due to corruption and mismanagement in the agricultural sector: “Nothing will be produced anymore, and there will be no one left to produce. In İskeçe and across Thrace, young people and workers are being driven into forced migration.”
Concluding his remarks, the MP emphasized: “The leftist parties will fulfill their responsibility. We will not allow this social plunder or the continuation of these medieval labor policies. Rest assured — your political time is running out.”
