Hundreds of hospital workers are to get a four percent pay rise after a deal brokered by union chiefs was formally signed yesterday morning.

The raise will be backdated from last October for about 400 trade and auxiliary staff at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute.

Agreement on the increase ? which is 1.2 percent above the 2.8 percent annual rate of inflation recorded in March ? was reached after nine months of negotiations between the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) and the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB).

The new collective bargaining agreement ? which will expire in October, 2007 ? also includes better sick leave entitlement for long-serving workers.

It was signed by union president Chris Furbert and R. Scott Pearman, BHB's director of human resources, at a ceremony at BIU headquarters in Union Street, Hamilton.

Mr. Pearman said: "This is definitely a cause for celebration in that the labour relations process between the BHB and the BIU is alive and well."

He added that the increase was especially crucial for tradesmen because of increased market prices in the construction industry.

"This will enable us to be more competitive in recruiting scarce talent in that specific industry segment," he said.

Mr. Furbert said: "Over the last nine months we have sat down and done the right thing. It's taken some time to reach the agreement. We all should feel proud.

"There are things we will disagree on but we must always be able to disagree and agree on things so we can sit down and talk about it and resolve things."

Union general secretary H. Molly Burgess said the agreement was reached after union members ratified the pay increase.

"Once it's ratified, it's a done deal," she said. "We negotiate across the board. We put everybody's wages together and then we take the average. Everybody gets four percent.

"All we need now to do is go forward and continue good relations."

She pointed out that the agreement covered not only those considered blue collar workers but also so-called white collar workers.

The pay rise will affect staff in numerous departments including those working as emergency medical technicians, nursing aides and assistants, cooks, receptionists, telephonists, electricians and carpenters.

The new sick leave entitlement will affect staff with more than ten years service. Those who have worked for BHB for between ten and 15 years will get now ten weeks full sick pay, as opposed to the previous six weeks full and four weeks half pay.

Staff who have served between 15 and 20 years will get 17 weeks full sick pay, rather than ten. And workers with more than 20 years service will now get 24 weeks full sick pay, double the previous 12 week entitlement.

Milton Scott, the Government's Director of Labour and Training, was also present on behalf of Labour Minister Randy Horton.

Mr. Scott said: "I'm glad that the Labour Department did not have to be involved in this process. These parties have come to the table and resolved all the matters that were outstanding. First and foremost, we prefer not to be part of the process."