The dispute between Ontario's government and education workers, explained

As contract talks between Ontario's government and thousands of education workers devolve into a legal battle, labour experts are split over whether the workers' big pay raise request is a reasonable one — and whether the public will be on their side.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is asking for an 11.7 per cent annual raise for 55,000 workers, including education assistants, early childhood educators, custodians and administrative assistants.

The pay hike request may appear staggering to many Canadian workers, who won't get a raise anywhere near that scale this year, even with inflation at about seven per cent.

But labour economists who spoke with CBC News say there's a deeper context behind the education workers' pay hike demand — including a decade of frozen wages that CUPE says has left the workers struggling to afford to live.

Here's a look at where the dispute stands and how the workers' pay raise request stacks up.

On Tuesday afternoon, CUPE said its negotiators at the bargaining table would propose a "counter-offer" to the government. It was not immediately clear what the union was prepared to concede — or whether the government would accept it.

For now, the education workers still plan to walk off the job in protest on Friday, after Doug Ford's government introduced legislation on Monday to ban the workers from striking following a breakdown in collective bargaining.

Ontario's government also said it would use the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to avert any constitutional challenges to the legislation.

Several school boards, including the Toronto District School Board, Peel District School Board, Ottawa Catholic School Board, Thames Valley District School Board, Waterloo Catholic District School Board and Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, said they would close for in-person learning on Friday if the walkout went ahead.

The education workers are asking Ontario's government for an 11.7 per cent annual raise, as well as overtime at twice the regular pay rate, 30 minutes of paid prep time per day for educational assistants and early childhood educators, an increase in benefits and professional development for all workers.

CUPE says the workers earn, on average, about $40,000 a year. An 11.7 per cent raise would give them $3.25 extra an hour, or about $4,800 extra per year (based on being paid for 35 hours per week for 43 weeks each year).

The Progressive Conservative government's final offer was a 2.5 per cent annual raise to workers making less than $43,000, and 1.5 per cent for those earning more, either of which would mean a raise of about $1,000 per year.

Although CUPE is asking for a much higher pay raise than most workers, or even other unions, are seeking this year, it says it's trying to make up for years of stagnant pay.

From 2012 to 2021, the education workers' wages increased about 8.5 per cent. Over the same period, inflation in Ontario rose 17.8 per cent, meaning the workers essentially took a massive pay cut over that period.