Greece - New groundbreaking law strengthens collective agreements - February 28, 2026

On 1 February 2026, Law 5278/2026, titled “National Social Agreement for the Strengthening of Collective Labour Agreements”, was published. The law introduces substantial changes to the regulation of collective labour law. The main pillars of the law concern: first, the simplification of the information required for registration in the General Register of Trade Union Organizations of Employees (GEMISOE) and in the General Register of Employers’ Organizations (GEMIOE). Second, the reinstatement of the full ultra-activity of collective agreements, so that after the expiry of a collective agreement all its terms continue to apply to the employees to whom it applied, until a new collective or individual agreement is concluded. Third, facilitating the extension of collective agreements by reducing the required coverage threshold from 50% to 40%. Fourth, the speeding up of arbitration and conflict resolution procedures.

Read on: in English…

For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.