Opposition assails PCs over doc talks

Newfoundland and Labrador's Liberal opposition accused Premier Danny Williams on Wednesday of giving physicians a "take it or leave it" ultimatum at the bargaining table.

The province delivered a counterproposal late Tuesday to the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, which began talks more than a year ago on a new contract to cover more than 1,100 physicians.

The government's response includes a $79 million increase for doctors' salaries and fees.

But the opening paragraph says the offer "must be accepted or rejected in its entirety," which Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones interprets as a line in the sand.

"I think the take it or leave it approach is not the ideal approach to negotiations," Jones told the house of assembly.

Finance Minster Tom Marshall, though, defended the government's approach.

"What we are sending here is not something that can be cherry picked, that they can take parts of it and then reject other parts of it," Marshall told the legislature. "This is a total package."

Rob Ritter, the executive director of the NLMA, said the letter from government raises more questions than it answers, and that the association will need a lot more clarity before it can agree to anything.

"What kind of negotiation is that?" he asked. "We've been saying all along the government has already anchored its position and now are saying, 'Go to the negotiating table.' Well, that's not a negotiation. That's an imposition."

For the second day in a row, Premier Danny Williams criticized the leadership of the NLMA in the legislature, although the premier who used fiery language on Tuesday adopted a less confrontational tone on Wednesday.

"Now Rob Ritter and company do not have a mandate from its members, because we happen to know there are members that do not agree with what they are doing," said Williams, who on Tuesday released a letter from a St. John's plastic surgeon Dr. David Jewer, a personal friend of the premier's who said some specialists do not support the NLMA.

However, outside the legislature, Marshall indicated the government may still be able to compromise.

"This is our position. If you want this, you take the whole thing," Marshall told reporters. "If you want to talk about certain things, we are certainly prepared to sit down and have a chat. That's what its all about."

The government's written response on Tuesday is the first formal document that the province has turned over to the NLMA.