In Our Times Tally

● Percentage of workers globally who belong to a union: 7
● Percentage of workers globally who believe they have “access to a union” or that access to a union is “easy to achieve”: 64
● Number of children globally engaged in hazardous labour that threatens their “health, safety and development”: 85 million
● Amount of wealth currently held in corporate accounts in Canada : $626 billion
● Amount of this so-called corporate “dead money” as a percentage of Canada’s GDP: 30
● Amount of corporate “dead money” as a percentage of Canada’s GDP in 1999:10
● Percentage of climate science papers published since 1991 that agree with the belief in human-induced global warming: 97
● Number of national or international scientific bodies that disagree with the belief in human-induced global warming: 0
● Median top personal income tax rate throughout the world today: 30%
● Top personal income tax rate that can raise the most revenue, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF): 55%
● Top personal income tax rate that can raise the most revenue, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research: 80%
● Percentage of Canadians who believe that the Harper Government “has diminished the democratic process”: 57
● Average number of Twitter posts throughout the world each week that includes a homophobic word: 328,955
● Manufacturing jobs as a percentage of total employment in Canada in 1989: 17.1
● Percentage today: 10.2
● Percentage today in Germany: 20
● Manufactured goods as a percentage of all imports to Canada from the European Union: 94
● Manufactured goods as a percentage of all imports to the European Union from Canada: 50
● Number of job openings currently in the Canadian economy: 199,790
● Number of Canadians who are officially unemployed: 1.34 million
● Year in which the country of Qatar was awarded host of the 2022 World Cup: 2010
● Estimated number of workers in Qatar who will die from workplace accidents and illnesses from now until 2022: 4,000
● Number of collective bargaining agreements in existence in Qatar today: 0
● Percentage change in real net worth of the poorest 20% of families in Canada from 1999 to 2012: -15
● Percentage change in real net worth of the richest 20% of families in Canada during the same time: +80
● Annual salary of New Orleans Saints football quarterback Drew Brees: $40 million
● Total combined salary of every player in the Canadian Football League in 2013: $35.2 million
● Percentage of Canadians who are opposed to ending door-to-door postal delivery in urban areas: 58
● Average annual salary of Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra since 2011: $497,100
● Number of years it would take the average worker in Canada to accumulate this much income: 11
● Number of years it would take them to accumulate the annual income of a top private sector CEO: 171
● Percentage increase in labour productivity in developed countries since 1999: 14.3
● Percentage increase in real wages in developed countries during the same time: 5.9
● International rank of Canada in having the highest percentage of adults with a post-secondary education: 1
● International rank of Canada in the post-secondary areas of science, engineering and mathematics: 23
● Number of times the estimated rate of global economic growth has been downgraded by the IMF since 2011: 7
● Percentage increase in the number of minimum wage workers in Ontario since 2003: 209
● Number of times the CBC’s Rex Murphy has spoken publicly at an event in favour of oil sand development since 2009: 25
● Estimated maximum fee charged by Murphy for speaking at an event, according to the National Speakers Bureau: $30,000
● Top ticket price of a seven day, roundtrip “Freedom Cruise” featuring Sun News anchor Ezra Levant: $8,679

Our Times Tally is written by union communications and media consultant Sean Cain (www.labourmedia.org).

SOURCES: 7, 64 – International Trade Union Confederation (Building Workers Power, 2013); 85 million – International Labour Organization (Making Progress Against Child Labour, 2013); $626 billion, 30, 10 – International Monetary Fund (Is Dead Money Alive?, February 2014); 97 – Environmental Research Letters (January 2013); 0 – American Geophysical Union (Eos Magazine); 30%, 55% – International Monetary Fund (Fiscal Policy and Income Inequality, January 23, 2014); 80% – National Bureau of Economic Research (Optimal Taxation of Top Labor Incomes: A Tale of Three Elasticities, 2011); 57 – Angus Reid Poll (February 28, 2014); 328,955 – www.nohomophobes.com; 17.1, 10.2, 20 – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; 94, 50 – Jim Stanford (Facts from the Fringe, June 17, 2013); 199,790, 1.34 million – Statistics Canada; 2010, 4,000, 0 – International Trade Union Confederation (The Case Against Qatar, March 2014); -15, +80 – Statistics Canada (Survey of Financial Security, 2012); $40 million – Forbes Magazine; $35.2 million – Canadian Football League; 58 – Angus Reid Poll (December 18, 2013); $497,100 – Jason Fekete (Canada.com, December 17, 2013); 11, 171 – Hugh Mackenzie (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives); 14.3, 5.9 – International Labour Organization Wage Database; 1, 23 – Organization for Cooperation and Development (Education at a Glance, 2013 and Field of Education Database); 7 – International Trade Union Confederation; 209 – Wellesley Institute (October 2013); 25 – PressProgress (February 4, 2014); $30,000 – Theresa Beenken, CEO of the National Speakers Bureau; $8,679 – www.freedomcruise.ca/Pricing-and-Availability.aspx
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