The senior doctors' union is accusing district health board chief executives of double standards over pay.
An analysis by the senior doctors' union shows DHB chief executive salaries rose at least 2.2 percent last financial year. Photo: 123rf
It said the bosses have received higher increases than they were offering workers, and it was damaging the employers' integrity.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell said the analysis showed DHB chief executive salaries rose at least 2.2 percent last financial year, as a conservative estimate.
Mr Powell said that was well above inflation and more than the 1 percent increase staff were being offered in the first year under some collective agreements.
"All the workforce sees from the chief executives is the double standard that the financial parameters on settlements for the rest of the workforce do not apply to them, so there is a lack of consistency, a lack of integrity and the reputation of their chief executives become tarnished as a consequence," he said
The union, which was in pay talks, said DHBs should think about the message they were sending to a workforce that was increasingly under pressure.
The DHBs were unavailable to comment.