In France it is not unusual to be paid for all overtime at the end of the year. Naturally this gives the bosses an extra opportunity to try to withhold payments, especially for jobs where overtime is unscheduled, such as with firefighters. Unsurprisingly management often find that their records of overtime hours worked are 'incomplete'. As a result workers often strike at the end of the financial year to ensure that they are paid in full for the hours worked. In the teaching profession it is common to work overtime, this is a money-saving exercise as overtime hours are paid at a lower rate than usual. This is presumably because the hourly rate for the rest of the year includes holiday pay whereas the overtime payments do not. Whatever the reason it makes it significantly cheaper, and of course far more 'flexible' for management to give overtime rather than hire new staff. Existing workers come to depend on the overtime and can be controlled with the threat of losing it, it also allows the authorities to cancel teaching hours without visible job losses.
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