Our Times Tally, Volume 14 – June 2011

● Year in which Beatrice Webb first coined the term “collective bargaining”: 1891
● Percentage of Canadians who believe that “poor people still have it pretty good”: 37
● Percentage who believe that people are poor because they have “lower moral values”: 28
● Fall in average housing prices in the United States between 1928 and 1933: 25.9
● Fall in average housing prices in the United States since 2006: 26
● Percentage of homes in the United States that are currently unoccupied: 13
● Number of Canadians the RCMP considered spying on or possibly interning in 1950 because of “communist links”: 66,000
● Number of new jobs that must be created in Canada each year to maintain our current rate of unemployment: 300,000
● Chance that a migrant domestic worker in Britain has experienced psychological abuse from their employer: 7 in 10
● Chance they have experienced physical abuse: 1 in 4
● Percentage increase in the number of assassinations of labour union activists around the world during the past year: 33
● Number of provinces in Canada where agricultural workers cannot bargain collectively: 3
● Percentage of employers in the U.S. who require one-on-one meetings with workers during a unionization drive: 63
● Chance that an employer will threaten to cut wages and benefits during those meetings: 1 in 2
● Chance that an employer in the U.S. will fire workers during a unionization drive: 1 in 3
● Amount that Peter Munk donated to the University of Toronto for a research centre to be named after him: $35 million
● Amount he will receive in tax deductions this year because of his donation: $16 million
● Percentage of U.S. Congress members who are millionaires: 44
● Average median wealth of a U.S. Senator: $2.4 million
● Percentage of American millionaires who “do not feel that well off”: 42
● Average amount of wealth they would have to own to “make them feel better about their net worth”: $7.5 million
● Percentage of Americans who supported the “increased use of nuclear power” in March 2010: 62
● Percentage of Americans who currently do: 39
● Number of people being trafficked in the world today for sexual or labour exploitation: 2.5 million
● Estimated amount of global profits made in trafficking each year: $32 billion
● Percentage of Canadians aged 18 to 29 who believe they will still have to work after the age of 65: 28
● Percentage of Canadians aged 40 to 49 who believe this: 51
● Percentage of Canadians who believe that public sector pension expenditures are “too high”: 18
● Number of women who have been named to a class-action, gender discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart: 1 million
● Number of class-action lawsuits in the U.S. brought against Wal-Mart in 2008 relating to break time for workers: 63
● Total amount that Wal-Mart was ordered to pay in damages: $640 million
● Percentage of all economic income growth in Canada during the last decade that went to the richest 1%: 33
● Percentage change in the number of long-term unemployed Canadians during the last two years: + 200
● Number of countries that Canada exported weapons and military goods to between 2003 and 2005: 73
● Number of these countries that were engaged in major military conflicts at the time: 39
● Amount in Canadian military exports sold to North Africa and the Middle East from 1990 to 2006: $1.9 billion
● Of this, amount that was sold to Saudi Arabia: $1.7 billion
● Number of legal political parties or independent labour unions in Saudi Arabia: 0
● Year in which the federal government of Canada ended the reporting of military export statistics: 2006
● Percentage of Americans who oppose laws taking away collective bargaining rights of public sector workers: 61
● Percentage annual increase in real income for U.S. local and state workers since 1990: 0.6
● Days after the Wisconsin protests began that Fox News claimed unions were engaging in “thuggery” and “insurrection”: 1

Our Times Tally, inspired by Harpers Index, is compiled by freelance writer Sean Cain (www.seanc60.sg-host.com).

SOURCES: 1891 – U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; 37, 28 – Salvation Army (Debunking Myths About Poverty in Canada, February 2011); 25.9, 26 – Reuters News (January 2011); 13 – CNN Money (March 28, 2011); 66,000 – CBC (October 14, 2010); 300,000 – Jim Stanford (Facts From the Fringe, January 2011); 7 in 10, 1 in 4 – Kalayaan Non-Profit Organization (United Kingdom); 33, 3 – International Trade Union Confederation; 63, 1 in 2, 1 in 3 – U.S. National Labor Relations Board; $35 million, $16 million – The Trouble with Billionaires (Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks); 44, $2.4 million – Centre for Responsive Politics (November 2010); 42, $7.5 million – Fidelity Investments Poll (March 2011); 62 – Gallup Poll (March 2010); 39 – Pew Research Center (March 2011); 2.5 million, $32 billion – International Labour Organization (The Cost of Coercion, 2009); 28, 51, 18 – Environics Research Group (October 2010); 1 million – JD Journal (March 21, 2011); 63, $640 million – Bloomberg Businessweek (April 26, 2010); 33 – Armine Yalnizyan (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives); + 200 – OECD (Employment Outlook 2010); 73, 39, $1.9 billion, $1.7 billion (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Report on Exports of Military Goods from Canada, 1990 – 2006); 0 – International Trade Union Confederation; 2006 – Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade; 61 – USA Today/Gallup Poll (February 23, 2011); 0.6 – Economic Policy Institute (February 22, 2011); 1 – Media Matters (February 2011).