Junior doctors settle pay conflict with district health boards, ending lengthy dispute

Junior doctors strike outside Auckland City Hospital earlier this year. Photo / File

Junior doctors have today accepted a new pay settlement signalling an end to a long-winded dispute between their union and district health boards.

The settlement includes a pay rise in line with other multi-employer collective agreements - for a two-year term from April 2019 - and a lump sum payment, said DHBs spokesman Dr Peter Bramley.

The settlement comes after five nationwide strikes between January and May which followed 11 days of facilitation with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) over a two-month period.

Today, the junior doctors say their union, the New Zealand Resident Doctors' Association (NZRDA), has accepted the ERA's recommendations.

"The ERA's recommendations included a new change management process ensuring the NZRDA and its members are fully involved in any proposal to change working arrangements," said a senior advocate for the union, David Munro.

Bramley said all of the ERA's recommendations had been accepted by DHBs and the NZRDA, and the offer for settlement had now been formally ratified by junior doctors.