ATHENS: Main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras on Thursday expressed deep concern over the government’s intentions in terms of the new labour bill at his meeting with labour ministry employees and members of Labour Inspectorate.

Tsipras accused the government of deliberately downgrading the Labour Inspectorate and criticised the government’s overall policy on labour issues, including the views that he said it wished to “entrench” in the labour market, underlining that New Democracy government has shown its intentions from the start of its governance.

The main opposition leader said that the government’s bill “not only abolishes the eight-hour working day and introduces a 10-hour working day, deregulating overtime work and creating an opportunity for overtime to not be paid” but also seeks to consoldiate its views with respect to workers’ rights and inspections relating to established workers rights.