● Percentage of Canadians who believe unions should have the right to strike: 59
● Percentage of Canadians from union households who believe this: 75
● Amount of human-made carbon released into the atmosphere since the late-18th century, in tons: 500 billion
● Estimated year in which this number will reach one trillion: 2040
● Average workweek in Canada in 1976, in hours: 38
● Average today: 36.7
● Percentage increase in average commute times to and from work in Canada from 1994 to 2010: 19.9
● Percentage of working Canadians who worked from home in 1996: 8.2
● Percentage today: 7
● Chance that a working Canadian would take a pay cut or give up vacation time in order to work from home: 1 in 3
● Rank of “equal income distribution” as the top factor in achieving long-term economic growth, according to the IMF: 1
● Ratio by which real GDP per capita in Sweden has outgrown that of Canada since 2008: 2 to 1
● Additional revenue the U.S. government could raise each year by closing tax loopholes for corporations: $60 billion
● Average number of words heard each daytime hour by a three year-old child from a low income family: 600
● Average number of words heard each daytime hour by a three year-old child from a middle class family: 2,100
● Percentage of Canadian workers aged 55 to 64 who belong to a union: 36
● Percentage of Canadian workers aged 15 to 24 who do: 16
● Number of bridges in the United States that are currently “structurally deficient,” according to the government: 66,749
● Average number of trips that are taken across these bridges every work day: 260 million
● Percentage increase in median family income in the United States from 1947 to 1980: 108
● Percentage increase in median family income in the United States since 1980: 11
● Percentage increase in family income for the top 1% in the United States since 1980: 63
● Percentage of total federal, state and local taxes paid by the top 1% in the United States: 21.6
● Percentage of total income earned by the top 1% in the United States: 21
● Estimated number of Aboriginal children who were forced to attend residential schools in Canada since 1870: 150,000
● Number of former students who recently took legal action against the government and the churches responsible: 13,000
● Percentage of Canadians who would rather have Holiday gifts go to someone in need, rather than themselves: 76
● Percentage of Canadians who say there “isn’t something they want” for a holiday gift: 48
● Number of environmental screenings that were cancelled by the Conservative government last year: 2,970
● Number of them that involved fossil fuel energy: 678
● Date on which Senator Mike Duffy referred to the David Suzuki Foundation as “anti-Canadian”: 03/13/12
● Chance that a fast food worker in the United States receives some form of social assistance: 1 in 2
● Amount that fast food workers and their families receive each year in federal food stamps: $1.04 billion
● Percentage of working Canadians who believe they’ll have a choice of when they would like to retire: 80
● Percentage of retired Canadians who say they retired at the time of their choosing: 59
● Percentage of baby boomers in Australia who believe they will have to work into their 80s to avoid living in poverty: 25
● Chance that a worker in a non-“Right to Work” state in the U.S. belongs to a union: 1 in 10
● Chance that a worker in a “Right to Work” state does: 1 in 25
● Date on which the federal Conservatives passed a motion at their convention supporting “Right-to-Work” legislation: 02/11/13
● Percentage of union members in Canada who usually refer to their union as “the union”: 68
● Percentage who usually refer to their union as “my union”: 32
Our Times Tally is written by union communications and media consultant Sean Cain (www.labourmedia.org).
