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The province’s request for public sector wage rollbacks up to five per cent was denied by an arbitrator in the province’s negotiation with Alberta’s largest union on Friday.

An independent arbitrator awarded one per cent wage increases to some public employees and a third year of frozen wages to others.

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The decision by arbitrator Phyllis Smith marks a no-win resolution in one facet of what has been a fraught relationship between the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) and the UCP government since it took power.

“We are somewhat disappointed,” said AUPE president Guy Smith on Friday.

The union had been seeking one-year wage hikes between 6.5 per cent and 7.85 per cent for 65,000 of the union’s 95,000 members in the negotiations.

Public service workers and health care workers in the general support services area of Alberta Health Services (AHS) will receive the percentage point raise, while AUPE members in AHS nursing care were handed a third year of frozen wages.