Our Times Tally, Volume 8 – January 2010

● Year in which labour unions in Canada became legal: 1872
● Chance that a homeless person in Toronto was born outside of Canada: 1 in 3
● Of these, percentage that have vocational training or a college or university degree: 39
● Chance that a homeless person in Toronto attempts suicide at least once a year: 1 in 10
● Percentage decline in the number of private sector Canadian workers who have a pension, between 1980 and today: 29
● Number of unionized workers in Canada at the start of World War I: 166,000
● Number five years later: 378,000
● Number of journalists worldwide who are currently imprisoned for their work: 166
● Of these, number who are imprisoned in Cuba, China and Iran, respectively: 24, 30, 33
● Number of trade union activists worldwide murdered in 2008: 76
● Of these, number that took place in Latin and South America: 66
● Percentage of countries in Latin and South America where a majority of the population prefer socialism to capitalism: 89
● Percentage increase in sales of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital in China during the past year: 450
● Chance that a Canadian believes part-time workers should have the same benefits as full-time workers: 4 in 5
● Number of countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal: 80
● Number where it is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty: 13
● Year in which the first gay and lesbian rights committee was formed inside a Canadian labour union: 1991
● Year in which Saskatchewan became the first jurisdiction in Canada to pass occupational health legislation: 1972
● Year in which Ontario became the first jurisdiction in the world to pass pay equity legislation for all workers: 1987
● Estimated number of slaves in the world today: 29,000,000
● Percentage of Americans who support President Obama’s proposed “card check” unionization reform: 53
● Year in which the International Committee for Prostitutes Rights was founded: 1985
● Percentage of Canadian workers who say they worry about becoming unemployed: 36
● Number of officially unemployed people in Canada who aren’t eligible for Employment Insurance: 920,000
● After-tax profits of the largest six Canadian banks during the last four quarters: $14 billion
● Number of unprofitable quarters that the Canadian banking industry suffered during the current economic crisis: 0
● Percentage of all Chinese Canadians between 1881 and 1885 who worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway: 43
● Ratio of miles of Canadian Pacific Railway track built to the number of Chinese Canadian deaths on the job: 1:1
● Number of Aboriginal women who have gone missing in Canada since 1980: 521
● Average individual income in Canada in 2008: $40,237
● Time it would take the richest 100 corporate executives in Canada to earn this income at work, in minutes: 4
● Number of countries around the world whose parliaments have more women than men: 1
● Year in which the Canadian federal government officially ended race-based immigration policies: 1967
● Year in which child labour was made illegal in Canada: 1929
● Percentage of Russians who believe it is “important for women to have full equality of rights”: 35
● Percentage of Mexicans who believe this: 89
● Chance that a worker who went on strike during the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike didn’t belong to a union: 1 in 2
● Number of additional people worldwide expected to fall into extreme poverty over the next year: 200,000,000
● Number of countries around the world where more than 30% of children aged 5 to 14 are working: 19
● Percentage increase in the median real hourly wage in Canada between 1980 and 2005: 0.01
● Number of times the word “capitalist” is written in the 1933 Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) Manifesto: 14
● Number of times the word “socialism” is: 0

Our Times Tally, inspired by Harpers Index (see www.harpers.org), is compiled by freelance writer Sean Cain.

SOURCES: 1872 – Canadian Labour Congress; 1 in 3, 39 – Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (Nov 2009); 1 in 10 – Wellesley Institute (The Street Health Report, 2007); 29 – Sam Gindin (Relay, July-September 2009); 166,000, 378,000 – Canadian Labour Congress (Labour History, 2005); 166, 24, 30, 33 – Reporters Sans Frontiers; 76, 66 – International Trade Union Confederation; 89 – Gallup Poll (Jan 2009); 450 – NBC News (April 8, 2009); 4 in 5 – Vector Research (Sept 2009); 80, 13 – International Lesbian, gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association; 1991 – Canadian Union of Public Employees; 1972 – Saskatchewan Department of Labour; 1987 – Equal Pay Coalition; 29,000,000 – Siddharth Kara (Columbia University Press); 53 – Gallup Poll (March 17, 2009); 1985 – Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema (Global Sex Workers); 36 – Angus Reid Poll (Sept 19, 2009); 920,000 – Statistics Canada (Labour force Characteristics, Nov 2009); $14 billion, 0 – Jim Stanford (Facts from the Fringe, Sept 18, 2009); 43, 1:1 – Marc Phillipe Babineau (How the CPR Was Built); 521 – Rabble.ca (Oct 29, 2009); $40,237, 4 – Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; 1 – The Economist Magazine (April 2009); 1967 – Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada; 1929 – Jean Barman (The Canadian Encyclopaedia); 35, 89 – World Public Opinion (March 5, 2009); 1 in 2 – Manitobia.ca (Life and Times); 200,000,000 – Global Unions (Getting the World to Work, May 2009); 19 – International Labour Organization; 0.01 – Statistics Canada (Income and Expenditure Accounts, 2008); 14, 0 – CCF Regina Manifesto.