Trade unions are facing difficult circumstances but it is important not to overstate the extent of the challenges

A few months ago a global union federation, Industriall (one of the largest membership organizations in the world representing 50 million industrial workers) signed an international Temporary Work Charter with Volkswagen. The agreement commits Volkswagen to limit the use of temporary workers to a maximum of five per cent of the workforce, along with the principle of equal pay and access to training for contract and agency workers. For Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) geeks this is very sexy indeed – a multinational company bucking the outsourcing trend and making it official by signing a global agreement with a trade union. So why did nobody hear about it?