Senior hospital doctors have voted to ratify a provisional pay settlement with district health boards for salary increases of about 3%.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says the result of the poll issued on Tuesday show 63% of union members have voted to accept the deal following two years of negotiations.
The union says the pay scale for specialist trainees has also been restructured to be more competitive with salaries in other countries.
Executive director Ian Powell hopes the restructuring will deter specialist trainees from going to Australia, where senior doctors are paid about $80,000 more each year than here.
He says the provisional settlement expires at the end of 2012 and negotiations for the next pay deal will begin in a few months.
