[rayiner]

> Not all workers have a union.

The three year reference period doesn’t apply to those workers. If there is no union, there is no collective bargaining agreement, and without a collective bargaining agreement the maximum reference period under the law is 4 months (similar to the rest of Europe). As to hours, the new Hungary law is not crazy out of line with that of other countries, especially the more market-oriented/capitalist European countries. The Netherlands and Denmark have no annual overtime limit. In the Netherlands you can be asked to work up to 60 hours per week. In Denmark it’s 48 hours. Norway has a limit of 400 hours by agreement. The new Hungary law works out to being the same as Norway, similar to Denmark, and less than the Netherlands. Austria has an extremely low limit (60 hours). Maybe that’s a good idea and maybe it’s not. But people in Norway aren’t “slaves.” Calling more liberalized, but still within the mainstream, labor regulations “slavery” is propaganda. And it’s propaganda to try and make readers think workers are being told to work for free.