Kate Green of RNZ

After 19 months of bargaining and several strikes, senior doctors have ratified a pay agreement with Health NZ.

Ninety-four percent of members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) endorsed the offer in an indicative ballot this week.

Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora said it would affect about 5500 senior doctors.

The agreement includes a cumulative pay increase of 5.9% over the next two years, backdated to January this year.

The union's executive director, Sarah Dalton, said it had been a long journey.

In September last year, Health NZ called for the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) to step in and force doctors into a contract, saying the union had breached the obligations of good faith, but the authority declined.

Dalton said the agreement was good news, but there remained significant and ongoing challenges in the public health system that needed to be addressed - including safe staffing levels.

"The first increase effective from January this year is a 2.9 percent…