Physiotherapy unions reach first draft agreement in 23 years

The unions CNV, FBZ and Fysiovakbond FDV have reached a draft deal with the Werkgeversvereniging Fysiotherapie (the employers' association) on a collective labour agreement (cao) for employees in first-contact physiotherapy. CNV, which announced the deal, says it is the first collective agreement for these employees in 23 years. The agreement runs from 1 January to 31 December 2027.

According to CNV, employees with a fixed salary would get a 2.5% pay rise on 1 January 2027 and a further 1% on 1 September. It is a minimum agreement: employers may only deviate from it if that favours the employee. CNV says a fixed salary and a fixed number of working hours would give employees more certainty about their income. The fixed salary may not be based on turnover, the number of billable hours or the number of treatments. Until a full pay scale exists, wage floors would apply to each job group, following a job evaluation.

CNV also says mandatory training would be fully compensated in time and money, as would the costs of registrations, including the BIG register of healthcare professionals and quality registers. Agreements were also made on holidays, safe working conditions and professional autonomy. "Employees have waited an awfully long time for this. At last we have a shared basis for working conditions again," said Rick Pellis, a CNV official. He said physiotherapists have fallen behind other healthcare professionals in pay and conditions, and that nobody should be worse off under the agreement. A full pay scale and a full pension scheme are still missing. The parties aim to put a pension scheme in place for all employees by 1 January 2029. "This agreement is a start, not the end of the road," Pellis said. The result will now go to the members of the unions and the employers' association. The parties then want the agreement declared generally binding (algemeen verbindend).