N.L. MDs ask for arbitration

The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association on Friday asked for binding arbitration to settle a contract dispute.

However, the province's minister of health insisted Friday that the government has not cancelled negotiations with the physicians, even though its bargaining team walked away from the table on Thursday.

In a strongly worded letter delivered to Premier Danny Williams on Friday, association president Brendan Lewis said ongoing delays in bargaining have hurt the health-care system.

"It is abundantly clear to the NLMA that the possibility for a fair and meaningful negotiated settlement with government is no longer feasible," wrote Lewis, who described the premier's comments regarding doctors as "flippant."

On Wednesday, Williams lashed out at physicians for asking for too much money in their next contract.

"Can't be dealt with. Can't be satisfied. Can't be answered," Williams said, describing the NLMA's bargaining demands as "through the roof."

"Your dismissive attitude and tone," Lewis wrote in response, "[have] extinguished any hope on our part that we will be treated with fairness and dignity, elements critical to meaningful negotiation."

Meanwhile, events took an unusual turn on Friday when Health Minister Jerome Kennedy denied talks were off with the province's doctors.

The government negotiating team walked away from the table on Thursday, prompting the NLMA to say the province had called off talks because of the NLMA's bargaining position.

But Kennedy said Friday that the province cancelled just one meeting, in retaliation against a news release by Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones over the government's handling of talks with physicians.

Kennedy said the province is willing to talk when the NLMA is ready.

As well, in a three-paragraph response on Friday afternoon, Williams criticized Lewis and the NLMA for having "perpetuated this fallacy" that talks were over.

"This government does not respond favourably to threats or misleading information," Williams wrote. He did not specifically address the NLMA's request for binding arbitration, but said government considers the talks to still be underway.

The NLMA insists that a government representative had told the association Thursday that talks were over. 

The twist comes after days of often-heated rhetoric and comments from Kennedy and Williams, who have both gone on the offensive on issues involving physicians.

The premier and minister have used strong language to describe particular groups of doctors, particularly St. John's pathologists, who have been embroiled in a dispute with the management of Eastern Health Authority.

Kennedy last Friday described those pathologists as "childish," and Williams on Wednesday said he would have used stronger language. The comments have infuriated and hurt many physicians, the NLMA has said.

The association's executive held an emergency meeting Thursday to respond to the government's move.

Executive director Robert Ritter said he doesn't think it's a coincidence that Williams and Kennedy — who have also made a point of stating pathologists' salaries during public comments over the last week — have condemned the behaviour of the St. John's pathologists.

"Tying the negotiations to his comments criticizing doctors in the lab — all of those things together lead me to believe that there is a bit of an orchestrated plan here to prime the public on a particular mindset," Ritter told CBC News.

The NLMA has developed ideas about how to resume negotiations for a master agreement, but the association is not commenting on them until they have been given to the premier first.

Ritter said it would be a shame to waste what has already been achieved at the bargaining table.

"This has been going on for almost 15 months, and there are a lot of things that have been held in abeyance until these negotiations are done," Ritter said.

"So it would be really good if we could get past this and move on to the business of everyday concerns and issues that have to be addressed."

Escalating tensions

The developments come amid a widening dispute between physicians and Eastern Health, the largest health authority in Newfoundland and Labrador. Last week, the authority forced the resignation of Dr. Nash Denic, a respected pathologist who had supervised the authority's laboratories, and disciplined several lab workers.

Eastern Health chided Denic for not having informed senior management quickly enough about problems with testing of the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine. Pathologists say Denic has been made a scapegoat and publicly humiliated, and had tried to draw management's attention to severe problems at the lab.

The dispute has led to at least seven physicians to resign from supervisory or administrative roles at Eastern Health to protest how senior management has handled the matter. Most recently, the division chief of neonatology has stepped down.

Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones said she has been told that many other physicians will follow suit if William and Kennedy do not apologize for their comments about pathologists.

"There are 10 or 15 within Eastern Health that have agreed to this, and we also know that all the other boards across the province have been engaged in this decision as well," she said.

"Every board employs at least 10 clinical chiefs across the province."

Meanwhile, a fifth pathologist in St. John's has gone on sick leave.

Williams and Kennedy have both said they have spoken out about physicians to protect the interest of patients.

But NDP Leader Lorraine Michael said the government has made things worse, and that Thursday's rupture in negotiation was not surprising. 

"It seemed to me that it was inevitable based on what I heard both from the minister of health as well as from the premier," she said.

"It seemed like things were coming to a boil and I didn't see any openness to sitting at a table."

Michael said the province would not be able to cope with a physicians' strike or a work stoppage.

The NLMA has never revealed what it attempts to achieve in its next contract, which will cover more than 1,000 salaried and fee-for-service physicians. However, documents obtained by CBC News last year indicated the association wanted to bring remuneration for physicians to the top end of scales in Atlantic Canada.