After five years of negotiating with the government, more than a thousand hospital midwives will receive a 15 percent pay increase.
The agreement covers midwives directly employed by Te Whatu Ora and will result in graduate midwives earning a starting wage of $73,000 per year before overtime and allowances.
More experienced midwives will be on a base rate of $97,000.
The deal doesn't extend to self-employed community midwives, who have long said they are fed up with broken promises to pay and support them properly.
Caroline Conroy, co-leader of midwifery union MERAS, and Alison Eddy, chief executive of the New Zealand College of Midwives, gave their reactions to Corin Dann.
