Some medical secretaries at Dunedin Hospital will receive a wage increase of nearly $10,000 as part of a pay deal for South Island health board clerical staff.
Wage increases of up to 15% will cost South Island health boards $7.4 million over three years.
Public Service Association organiser Julie Morton said that South Island clerical workers' wages had lagged behind those of their North Island colleagues for years.
The North Island workers settled a claim under the last Labour Government, and when National took charge it changed DHB bargaining rules, which led to the delay before ratification this week.
The deal involved re-evaluating the jobs.
''[Workers were] not necessarily paid according to the task complexity and the level of responsibility that the various roles had ... even though what the person did within that job title might not be the same as another person with the same job title.
''So it was a bit of a mess.''
Mrs Morton said the typical long-serving Dunedin Hospital medical secretary earned about $42,800 per year. That would increase to more than $51,200 over the next two and a-half years.
The deal affected more than 230 workers at Dunedin Hospital.
''This is great news for them, it really is. It's not often that I'm able to say that out of bargaining.''
Mrs Morton said that of the five DHBs, Southern District Health Board had been the only one to work directly alongside the union to re-evaluate the jobs, which she had appreciated.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell congratulated the workers on having secured the deal after ''years of neglect''.
''Medical secretaries and other clerical workers do essential work within public hospitals, and their work is integral to hospital specialists and other health professionals who provide front-line clinical treatment.
''However, for years they have been devalued by Government through derogatory populist references to so-called back office work and overlooked by their DHB employers,'' Mr Powell said.
Julie Patterson, chief executive of Whanganui DHB and chairwoman of the health boards' workforce and employment relations programmes, said the new agreement had taken time, but the outcome was beneficial.
