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“I’m kind of shocked the government actually made us any kind of an offer,” Thomas said. “It’s no secret that my union and myself, my executive board, we’re always in a battle with the government … We’re at odds with them on a lot of fronts.”

But, Thomas said, the offer contains a number of positive changes with no demands of concessions for members, and no matter the motivation he’s looking for the best deal for the workers.

Premier Kathleen Wynne disputed that the offer was about the upcoming election.

“My position has always been, since I’ve been in elected politics, has been that good working relationships with our labour partners is good for the people of the province,” she said.

For many years now, the government has been able to offer public-sector workers only small increases, as it worked to eliminate a multibillion-dollar deficit, but the budget is now balanced, she said.

“One of the reasons that we have been able to come to this position now where we are able to balance the budget, where we are able to make investments, is that we’ve worked very well with our labour partners,” Wynne said.

The last deal saw OPSEU workers get no raises in 2015 or 2016, a 1.4-per-cent lump-sum payment in 2016 and a 1.4-per-cent raise in 2017.