Bitterness, ugly rumour and insults are being bandied about and for once the topic isn’t Europe.
The topic testing the minds of employers and suppliers in optics is the use of locums.
The chatter around locum use has been rumbling on for some time now. Employers are having to pay more and more and supply is harder and harder to come by. Contact lens companies are seeing contact lens penetration fall and, behind closed doors, this has also been linked to the use of locums who just want to refract.
Back in March, Optician surveyed its readers on the topic in the Market Monitor survey. Of those practices quizzed 56.8% said they used locum optometrists or dispensing opticians. For 36.6% of practices this was an increase year on year.
It’s clear that locums feel abandoned by their representatives. An ipetition has been set up spelling out the case. The petition’s introduction accuses employers of acting as a cartel in refusing to raise day rates. It goes on to call for minimum rates and a boycott of those employers in full flaming torches and pitchfork style.
So far the petition has attracted 473 ‘signatures’ and 80-odd comments. More interestingly many of those commenting lament the lack of representation for professionals. They agree with the ‘union’ idea and express gratitude for the petition’s formation.
It’s a bit rich for the hired guns to start complaining when the pay doesn’t suit anymore but equally employers have to make a salaried job more attractive if they want the security of staff over locums.
As they used to say there’s trouble at mill. When that trouble is between the main employers and their key professional staff it has the potential to end badly.
