TORONTO - The Opposition Conservatives are slamming the Liberal government for secretly awarding Ontario civil servants a generous pay hike in 2012.

Tory critic John O'Toole says the deal shows the government launched a "phoney" public relations stunt when it vowed last year to implement a public sector wage freeze to wrestle down the deficit.

Recently disclosed documents show the government awarded 33,700 Ontario civil servants an additional wage increase of one per cent for 2012.

It fought to keep under wraps an accord with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union -- the province's largest public-sector union -- that provides an overall increase of three per cent in 2012.

But the government was compelled to disclose the deal, which guarantees labour peace with the union until after the Oct. 6 provincial election, at a labour board hearing Wednesday.

Liberals insist deal wasn't secret

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan insists the deal wasn't secret and saved taxpayers money.

The government signed the four-year deal with OPSEU in December 2008, during the global economic downturn, which provided an increase of two per cent in 2012, said Duncan's spokesman, Andrew Chornenky.

It was less than the three per cent the union was seeking, and included a number of concessions on benefits and other entitlements that saved taxpayers more than one per cent per year, he said.

The documents disclosing the deal were unveiled during proceedings dealing with a labour complaint by the bargaining agent for 12,000 Ontario professional and supervisory public servants.

The Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario has complained that the government negotiated in bad faith.

Two-year wage freeze

Duncan's 2010 budget called for a two-year freeze on wages for more than a million public sector workers to help fight a record provincial deficit of about $20 billion. But it's largely failed to materialize.

Efforts to curb wages have been frustrated by several rulings by independent arbitrators, who have awarded pay raises despite the government's wishes.

But the government has also handed some groups generous pay hikes, including a five per cent increase for Ontario Provincial Police.

The Liberals have repeatedly refused to introduce legislation to impose the freeze.