There doesn’t seem to be any end to the dispute between the provincial government and the Ontario Optometry Association.
Optometrists stopped doing OHIP-funding eye care services in September to back demands for a better deal.
This week, Associate Minister of Health Robin Martin accused the Ontario Association of Optometrists of refusing to come to the bargaining table to negotiate a new deal.
“We’re extremely disappointed that at the urging of the Ontario Optometrists Association, some optometrists have chosen to withhold publicly funded services for our youth and seniors,” Martin told the Ontario Legislature on Monday. “It’s really due to the fact the OAO continues to decline an independent third-party mediator’s invitation to come back to the table.”
Martin also blamed the OAO of dragging its feet.
“It’s really concerning because they continue to tell the public they are at the table, when in fact they are not. The current impasse lies squarely at the feet of the OAO, which instead of participating in these good-faith negotiations, is choosing to demand an outcome before allowing negotiations to start,” says Martin.
Martin says the government has promised almost an 8.5% increase and a one-time payment of $39 million for increases the optometrists didn’t receive for providing OHIP eye services for the past decade.
The Optometrist Association of Ontario is sticking to its guns.
Dr. Kristi Bruni says the Ontario government still hasn’t promised to increase the cost of eye exams.
“We are waiting for the government to come to the table and make meaningful negotiations where we have a long-term solution to this problem, where we have a framework for negotiating our terms of service, every few years, like other health care professionals,” says Dr. Bruni.
The Ontario Association of Optometrists also claims it accepted the invitation to mediation but after two days, it became abundantly clear the Ministry of Health was not there to negotiate in good faith.
The Association says the offer of a one-time payment wasn’t discussed, but imposed.
(With files from Mike Ebbeling/CKDR)
