this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 136 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Greece re-introduces the 6 day work week... It used to be the standard. Y'know, in the 18th fucking century

[–] Tar_alcaran 36 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And the 19th, and a large part of the 20th too

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Also, part of the 21st....

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm 50 and I've worked 6-day weeks probably 90% of my working life which started at 14. Even before that, it's not like you actually got the whole weekend off. I was an honors student, there was always tons of homework.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

I’m never gonna have a lot of money but at least I had more time to myself.

[–] [email protected] 120 points 3 months ago

Well that’s some backwards bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 116 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I hope this is at least banking that time; you don't get overtime, but you can use that time later for paid time off.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Still sucks that it could be mandatory. I work in a government job in Australia and we have "Flexible Hours" which means that any time worked under or over the standard 7:30hrs per day counts towards a flex balance. Then we can use the excess flex balance to then taking shorter days or even take a couple days off if we have the balance for it. It works wonders for staff morale and retention.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Same boat mate - Aussie govt employee myself who has access to flex. Personally I felt it was better when I was working for an NGO and they always gave me the choice between being paid overtime or banking it to flex later. It was nice to get the extra cash when I needed it and extra leave when the time came too. That should be the standard the employee should have the choice between OT or extra leave.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

I hope so too, that has to be a very difficult situation for working parents to navigate.

[–] [email protected] 97 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Man, if I still lived in an EU country and the government pulled this shit I’d be making the most of that sweet freedom-of-movement. Way to drive all the skills out of your economy.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

That's exactly what tens if not hundreds of thousands of young Greeks have done in the last 15 years.

Greece has a brain drain problem. This ridiculous measure is actually sold by the government as an attempt to address the shortage of certain skilled worker categories. By ... incentivizing the few that are left to pack up and leave. In practice, it's just class warfare.

The Greek ruling class is a bunch of grifters, landlords, smugglers and gangsters (always have been, since 1830) and they are basically betting on a "recovery" based on cheap labour.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Legitimate question: aren't there barriers / hurdles to permanent residency still?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

The barriers are your skills and language. Other than that, no.

Edit: some people move without permanent residency anyway. It has its' drawbacks.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Got it, that's all I meant. I thought there were requirements, it's not just "pack our bags, we're moving to Germany tomorrow"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

If you can afford it, yes you can do this. You are allowed to live and work anywhere in the EU.

But if you also need a job to feed you, its more difficult if you do not speak the local language and have not learned something useful.

But from the residency law you absolutely can pack your bag and move to Germany tomorrow as an EU citizen.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

That's almost how I migrated, except I had to give a month's notice at work and I'd already found an address to register at.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

I've literally done that inside the EU, though to the UK (back before Brexit) rather than Germany - I flew to London and stayed about a month in a hotel whilst looking for a contract there (I'm a freelancer) and more permanent accommodation.

Years later I did the same to Germany, though I only stayed 3 months.

The only requirement is that you either have a job or have the money to pay for the costs of living there (so you can still go without a job, as long as you have the money to pay for a place to stay, food and so on). The reason for the requirement that you can pay your way (either from a job or savings) is because people can't just move to another EU country to do things like living on the street and begging or living of the local Social Security.

Some countries also have a requirement that you register after 3 months there (for example, Germany), though it's not any kind of applying to stay, it's simply registering as living there. This is usually because there are associated obligations for residents in that country, not just in terms were do you pay tax, but in some countries (for example, Germany and The Netherlands) there are things like mandatory health insurance.

In practice as an EU citizen, if you have the savings or the kind of job which you can do in 3 month stints or remotely, you absolutely can hop from country to country every 3 months without having to register with anybody (though I'm not sure how taxes would work - I suppose you would pay them in the last country you registered as a Resident).

If you know the language, if it weren't for taxes being per country and the rights and duties of Residents being different in different countries (such as the Mandatory Health Insurance for Residents in some countries but not others) hence the requirement to register after 3 months in some countries, the whole thing would be as easy as moving within your own country.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago

A good example of how this is not the case is the UK and Dentists. When Brexit hit and they left the EU (picture if the right in the US had their immigration way), a ton of immigrant Dentists had to leave. It was easy to stay before because of the EU. Now there is a huge shortage of dentists. Surprise surprise.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Honestly, I always thought it was overrated. Some catchy music, sure, but I don't think it really holds up otherwise. Maybe the play was better?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Greece has some port big problems financially that are not going away any time soon. It needs change, it needs exports

[–] [email protected] 87 points 3 months ago (10 children)

Greek employers cannot find the staff they need. Greek coastguard pushes migrants off boats into the sea.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

in my shithole country we have %30 unemployment and 6-day work week. Also it's all slave wages regardless of your degree or experience. It's a corrupt shithole system that enables itself to keep on staying shit by exploiting poor people and getting the rich richer.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Um, you're describing Greece plus or minus some unemployment percentage points.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

Greek companies wonder why "nobody wants to work anymore."

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Those migrants aren't staying in Greece, they want to go somewhere with an actual economy

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (4 children)

If that were the case, why would the Greek coastguard give a shit?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Maybe the cruelty is the point?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But they'll take all of our incredibly desirable jobs!

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Noo that's the wrong direction

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Capitalism 📈 (the line is both profit and human suffering)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Plot twist: They are one and the same.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago

No wonder they're not having children if they spend all their time 69ing

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

That's even worse than China's 69 (six days, nine hours).

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

996 is the concept out of the Chinese tech industry I'm familiar with - from 9 to 9, 6 days a week, totalling 72 hours worked per week.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago

neoliberalism in its essence

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I mean how does the government regulate this even?

If I was a skilled worker, I'd tell the company I work 5 days or I don't work for you ..

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Thanks I hate it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

Can they don't

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Greece had been effed since the austerity economics were placed on them due to the great big financial crisis where boys were declared to be too big to fail. Remember only regular working people are allowed to fail.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Greek Brain Drain incoming.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


After 15 years of recession and austerity and three rescue packages that came with tough conditions attached, labor in Greece is no longer strictly regulated.

Collective agreements have been frozen for years, and in many businesses, staff work on the basis of individual employment contracts.

Making sure that the authorities can do such monitoring tasks effectively is not a priority for the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Kazakos is in favor of collective wage agreements, which are, however, being increasingly limited by legislation passed by the ruling conservative New Democracy (ND) government.

The official reason for the introduction of the six-day work week is that there is a shortage of skilled workers on the Greek labor market.

The new Greek regulation on the six-day work week and the reduction in arbitration proceedings that comes with it are turning back the clock, Kazakos told DW.


The original article contains 812 words, the summary contains 145 words. Saved 82%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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