Talks with docs back on: N.L.

Newfoundland and Labrador government officials have scheduled a meeting with physicians in a new attempt to reach a contract, Health Minister Jerome Kennedy said Wednesday.

Kennedy told reporters the government decided to revive talks after hearing recent comments from Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association president Pat O'Shea, as well as because of notes received from concerned patients.

"I've received a number of emails and there was one particular email the other night that really struck me ... a mother and a situation that she has found herself with her children and being a parent myself, it really hit home," said Kennedy Wednesday.

"The public is telling us that they want us to try to resolve this and there have been emails from parents who go to the Janeway and they've said we need these specialists."

Both sides are scheduled to meet later this week, Kennedy said.

The NLMA confirmed that Kennedy had contacted O'Shea directly, and that meetings will start later this week.

"Minister Kennedy contacted NLMA President Dr. Pat O’Shea to ask if they could meet," said a medical association spokesperson in an email to CBC news. "Dr. O’Shea agreed to a meeting. We are not returning to the negotiating table. Our position is clear – we want binding arbitration."

Talks between the government and doctors broke off mid-summer, according to the medical association.

The medical association official said there was a  "marked difference" in the tone from government.

This weekend, O'Shea said the NLMA would be willing to give up the right to strike in return for a guarantee of binding arbitration in all contract talks. Finance Minister Tom Marshall on Tuesday rejected the proposal.

Tuesday, the provincial government announced it expects to run a small surplus this coming year. Speaking at the budget update, Finance Minster Tom Marshall said the goverment is not sweetening its offer to doctors and rejected the doctors' call for binding arbitration.

Kennedy said Wednesday the government is willing to discuss O'Shea's comments and the concerns doctors have about their pay.

The resumption of talks comes after weeks of contentious and sometimes emotional exchanges between government and physicians, particularly over a mass resignation of salaried specialists who feel they are being treated unfairly compared to their colleagues, because of what they describe as a two-tier salary system.

The mass resignation of the 14 specialists is scheduled to take effect in early February.

The government has said until now that its offer to physicians is generous.

The NLMA has said government should pay all of the province's salaried specialists with the same system. Government brokered a side deal with pathologists and most oncologists in 2008, triggering accusations of unfairness.

The NLMA's main bargaining request has been a call to bring remuneration for its more than 1,000 members to parity with colleagues in other Atlantic provinces.

Eastern Health said it was filing formal complaints against the resigning salaried specialists with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which licenses doctors to work in the province. The NLMA said that move was aggressive, as such a complaint could harm a physician's ability to seek work in another jurisdiction.