News

2026 pay scale indexation — 2,72%

Article 1 of the collective agreement of 19 May 2021 provides for annual indexation of base pay. For 2026 the index is set at 2,72%, applicable from 1 January.

Minimum monthly gross base pay

Allowances

Since the Joint Committee's decision of 21 December 2023, the allowances under articles 5 and 9 are indexed in the same way as base pay.

Official Joint Committee communication (PDF)

Peer-reviewed publication on working-time logging

The work on working-time logging has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Occupational Medicine (Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine).

The study combines a nationwide survey of 257 Belgian healthcare workers with alpha testing of a decentralized occupational-management application:

• 68% are dissatisfied with extra-hours tracking systems.
• 91% expressed interest in an open, decentralized solution.
• Testing with 12 users showed high satisfaction with reporting accuracy and independence (4.7/5), with administrative burden remaining the weak point (3.7/5).

The work documents what DeMeFF has argued since 2021: without a reliable, independent record of hours, the rights of doctors in training remain theoretical.

Reference. Barrit S, Abene S, de Froidmont A, André J, El Hadwe S, Al Barajraji M, Niset A. Decentralized worker-centred occupational management in health care: nationwide survey and alpha testing. Occupational Medicine 2025;75(1):42-49. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqae129

Read the full article (free access)

Open-archive preprint (PDF)

2025 pay scale indexation — 3,22%

Article 1 of the collective agreement of 19 May 2021 provides for annual indexation of base pay. For 2025 the index is set at 3,22%, applicable from 1 January.

Minimum monthly gross base pay

Allowances

Since the Joint Committee's decision of 21 December 2023, the allowances under articles 5 and 9 are indexed in the same way as base pay.

Official Joint Committee communication (PDF)

Compensatory rest for public holidays worked

A difference of interpretation arose with the CCFFMG regarding compensatory rest for public holidays worked. Under Article 11 of the Public Holidays Act, every worker — including a doctor in training — is entitled to compensatory rest when they have worked on a public holiday. That rest must be taken within six weeks of the holiday, and is not a substitute public holiday.

The legal opinion we obtained from our law firm confirms that our reading of the legislation is consistent with national and European labour standards. We invited the CCFFMG to reconsider its position and to amend the relevant chapter of its vademecum accordingly.

Legal opinion (PDF, in English)  ·  Letter to the CCFFMG (PDF, in French)

2024 salary indexation of 6.05%

Article 1 of the collective agreement of 19 May 2021 provides that the monthly base pay of doctors in training is indexed annually. For 2024 the index was set at 6.05%, applicable from 1 January.

Minimum monthly gross base pay

The index was first applied to the seniority increment, from which the minimum gross amount follows — which may produce a tiny rounding difference compared with applying the index to the gross amount itself.

New: allowances too

On 21 December 2023 the Joint Committee decided that the allowances under articles 5 and 9 would henceforth be indexed in the same way as base pay, at the start of each calendar year.

2024 pay scale — FR/NL (PDF)

Productive meeting with the Minister for Higher Education

DeMeFF is proud to announce significant progress following its meeting with Ms Bertieaux, Minister for Higher Education in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Two major wins were secured: the inclusion of doctors in training in the various accreditation commissions and the minister's commitment to establish an independent appeals body before the end of her term.

The minister also stressed the importance of reflecting on a reassessment of the accreditation commissions — a theme that will feature in her "political testament" so that the file is reopened as soon as her successor takes office. This commitment recognises the need for structural change in the medical training system.

Legal dissertation: the working conditions of doctors in training

We are sharing the master's dissertation in law by Jean Lagneaux, a student at UCLouvain: "C'est ici que les Romains s'empoignèrent: the legal framework limiting the working time of doctors in training in Belgium and the difficulty of applying it on the ground".

The work examines the legal framework governing the limitation of the working time of doctors in training, from international and European standards to Belgian law, then investigates how those rules are applied in the daily practice of hospitals. It draws on field data and on the testimony of those who live the reality of the healthcare system day after day. Our association contributed by sharing data and case studies and by facilitating interviews.

Read the dissertation (PDF, in French)

Reforming the accreditation commissions

We produced a comprehensive position paper on the problems surrounding the accreditation commissions in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, structured around six themes: administrative sanctions (moratorium requested pending review), outdated accreditation criteria to be revised specialty by specialty, standardisation of training curricula, inclusion of doctors in training in the composition of the commissions, creation of an independent appeals body, and transition to an electronic portfolio.

Ministers Bertieaux and Vandenbroucke were informed and their teams are working on the file.

Full position paper (PDF, in French)

Op-ed — Hospitals under influence: time for political courage

Every week, a care-institution manager asks for public funding — too often without a clear vision, without tangible objectives and without any guarantee of transparency.

Three essential missions are neglected as a result: caring for the population, training the next generations of carers, advancing research. Care staff are worn down by managerial excesses that drive departures and shortages; technological tools, though costly, remain obsolete.

Some managements use the lack of resources to justify cuts that fall on care staff, and to request more public money without first analysing the costs generated by their own structures. This feeds a culture of opacity, concentration of power and conflicts of interest.

DeMeFF calls for political courage: transparency on the use of public funds, governance freed from party logic, and priority restored to care, training and research.

Read the op-ed (PDF)

Launch of the DeMeFF app for doctors in training

A mobile app to stay informed and safe: emergency assistance, up-to-date information on your rights, and access to essential files and documents. It was released on iOS and Android.

Note: the app is no longer maintained.

Cumulative premiums: the collective agreement amended

Until then, a doctor in training working a night or a weekend under the opting-out received only one premium: the increases for unsocial hours and for additional hours were treated as mutually exclusive.

After two years of work on this file, DeMeFF obtained confirmation from the Minister for Employment that the two premiums are cumulative. This had not been applied before.

The significance goes beyond the individual case: the text of the collective agreement was amended to state it explicitly. What was a matter of interpretation became a written rule, enforceable against every employer.

Press release — Meeting with the Minister for Employment on the review of the collective agreement

DeMeFF met Mr Pierre-Yves Dermagne, Minister for Employment, to discuss the collective labour agreement concluded in May 2021, on the eve of its review. Four key points were presented:

• The new definition of opting-out hours does not match reality and will lead to under-declaration — and under-payment — of those hours; a concrete alternative counting method was proposed.
• Premiums for unsocial hours (night, weekend, public holidays) and those for opting-out hours must be cumulative.
• All work performed during on-call duty — for instance giving advice by telephone — must be counted as working time and paid accordingly.
• The reference period must be reduced from 13 weeks to 4.

The minister's cabinet undertook to examine these points closely with a view to the review of the collective labour agreement.

Meeting summary (PDF)  ·  Request for review (PDF)

Press release — Accreditation commissions: meeting with the Minister for Education

DeMeFF met Ms Valérie Glatigny, Minister for Education, on 22 June 2023. The meeting addressed the administrative sanctions imposed by accreditation commissions on specialist doctors in training in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, and proposed the creation of an intermediate appeals body for doctors who disagree with their commission's decisions.

Following the meeting, Ms Glatigny announced her resignation on health grounds. DeMeFF expressed its full support. We requested a meeting with her successor, Ms Françoise Bertieaux, in order to continue the dialogue.

Alarming federal report on the supervision of doctors in training

The Federal Public Service Health published a report on the supervision of specialist doctors in training in Belgium. Its findings are severe:

• 9 in 10 report facing situations beyond their competence, compromising patient safety.
• About half feel they lack the support needed to cover on-call duty: insufficient supervision, resources and prior training.
• Breaches of working-time rules and misuse of the opting-out — signed by 86%, allowing up to 72-hour weeks — are systemic.
• Despite the legal obligation and the public funding of their scientific training, more than half reportedly do not receive it.

Doctors in training are forced into personal and professional sacrifices to compensate for organisational shortcomings. DeMeFF urges the competent authorities to take urgent measures.

Formal notice served on hospitals

Through its lawyers, DeMeFF served formal notice on hospitals where the law on counting and paying working time was not being respected.

Two failings were targeted in particular:

• On-call duty from home. A doctor who answers the phone, gives advice or travels in is working: that time must be logged and paid.
• The counting of working time and the payment of the resulting premiums.

Recognised as a representative professional union, the association can take legal action to defend its members' interests — this step illustrates that.

Formal notice (PDF)

Survey on new professional titles in surgery — results

Having consulted doctors in training in surgery on the creation of new professional titles, we submitted the results of the survey to the Higher Council of Specialist Physicians and General Practitioners.

Opinion submitted (PDF, in French)

Maternity file

A short file covering the essential information on pregnancy during specialty training, produced in collaboration with CESI and COHEZIO, whom we thank for their help and availability. Some of the information is an interpretation of legal texts; the document therefore cannot be treated as law.

Maternity file (PDF, in French)

Joint Committee: latest developments

Meeting of the National Joint Committee for Doctors and Hospitals on 15 February 2022. Three main points emerged.

1. Systematic deduction of the lunch break is unlawful. A lunch break may only be deducted where (1) it is structurally scheduled, (2) arrangements are in place so that it can actually be taken, and (3) the doctor is not at the employer's disposal during it — not reachable by phone and away from the ward. In all other cases a lunch break may not be deducted from working time, even if it was taken. The representative of the Labour Inspectorate confirmed this interpretation.

2. Payment of premiums. According to the same representative, premiums for additional hours (opting-out) should be paid the following month rather than after 13 weeks: the 13-week averaging concerns only the duration of working time, not its pay.

3. Representation on the Joint Committee. In line with the commitments made after the May 2021 strike, doctors in training are granted 4 seats — 2 French-speaking, 2 Dutch-speaking — on the doctors' side, with voting rights. Total membership rises to 32.

The agreement approved, FAQ and model contract

The agreement of the National Joint Committee for Doctors and Hospitals was approved by the Council of Ministers on 9 July 2021. INAMI simultaneously published two documents: a FAQ setting out how the articles of the agreement should be read, and a model contract that came into force the following academic year.

These texts frame working time: base working time, opting-out hours, unsocial hours, on-call duty, provisional schedules and logging by an independent third party. The FAQ specifies, among other things, that leave periods must be "neutral" in the calculation of maximum permitted working time, and that a lunch break may not be deducted automatically.

This was a starting point rather than a conclusion: several issues remained open, and DeMeFF continued to work on the areas it considered insufficient.

Founding general assembly

Ten days after the strike of 20 May, the specialist doctors in training meet in general assembly. The meeting sets out the Delegation's mandate, how it will operate and how its positions will be decided democratically.

From this framework the non-profit association was born, giving the movement a lasting legal existence.

General assembly, 30 May 2021 (PDF)

The strike of doctors in training and the birth of the Delegation

The Délégation des Médecins Francophones en Formation was formed alongside the strike of specialist doctors in training of 20 May 2021, in the wake of the protest movement that swept through all doctors in training during the negotiation of the new contract governing their work and the teaching of their specialty. It went on to organise itself as a non-profit association.

Strike call (PDF)  ·  Task force charter (PDF)  ·  Statement, 21 May (PDF)  ·  Press release, 23 May (PDF)  ·  Statement, 28 May (PDF)