UNISON Reviews 

Horrible service! My employee fire me from long term of being sick. I contacted with Unison and asked them to contact with me by email I explain why ( I have dyslexia so prefer email) they email me and give me the normal phone number to call. When I wanted to complain about I got special information how to complain! F&@“@& sick they not with you when you need them! City Advice is more helpful and is for freeeeeee!

The way the branch and their solicitors dealt with my case regarding an abuse from my previous employer was absolutely a disgrace. For over a year, I emailed John Holroyds with evidences such as email and medical records, but they just completely ignore and didn't take it seriously. Absolutely shocking!

I've been a member of UNISON for a long time now. Paying my hard earned money into what I thought would be a good thing. My boss at work is completely against Unions and say they're absolutely rubbish. I thought she was just saying this to get me to leave the union. Anyway, I am now in need to UNISON's help with a formal grievance process that I have began with my employer. Long story short - I am seeking help, advice and representation from my union UNISON. So far I've received one email to say that someone will be in contact from my local branch. No one has been in contact - complete radio silence. I am alone now, dealing with my employer by myself, representing myself without any advice from who I thought would have my back. This is not the first time that I have sought advice from UNISON and the time before was equally as bad. My boss was perhaps right after all. A waste of money.

My experience of Unison was very poor. The rep lacked even the most basic knowledge of employment law, would not write any emails and spent more time in management meetings than with staff who needed them. They don't want to make any waves and only want to take on cases which further their own political agenda. It's people's lives they are messing with. Everyone joins just in case something happens, but when it does, they are not worth the money you have spent on them.

No help.
I'm the one who's done all the talking and I've had two reps and all it's done is coused me a be under contdant watch an my work and work ethics to be under more pressure then wen I first started.
I only went to HR shef University to ask them to tell my supervisor and manager to ease of with the constantly pressuring me and stressing me out. NOW IM UNDER SOME WORSE PRESSURE.

I have a unison nhs dental care policy
My Dentist says I need tooth number 6 re crowned he said my old nhs white crown can only be replaced with a ugly looking silver one if I wanted a white one I would have to pay private at a cost of £525 🤷🏻‍♂️ so I ask unison dental care plan would they pay what a nhs silver one would be at £319 and I would pay the rest they said no we don’t pay anything for private work I think the world has gone mad so so silly thanks for your help unison .”

Today’s massively dismissive interaction With Mick Alderson of the Nottingham branch has prompted me to cancel my membership and move to a better union. Thanks for saving me some money.

To Edinburgh Branch-
The service I received was absolutely unsatisfactory. The staff was dismissive and unprofessional. He didn’t call me at all that day, but instead sent an email claiming he had called several times without receiving an answer, which was simply untrue.

Regarding the issue I raised, all he did was evade responsibility and show a clear lack of interest in helping. His responses were also rude and abrupt. In the end, he unilaterally informed me that he was closing my case without resolution.

It feels like UNISON is more interested in collecting fees than in providing actual support, often brushing off its members.

I had been with this Union for more than 10 years. When I really needed them the Unison Rep sided with management and I lost my job. Then when taking my employer to an Employment Tribunal their legal team wouldn't support me and said that I didn't have a case. I ended up representing myself and won a payout. This experience has turned me off joining a trade union full stop.

As a long-time Unison member, I expected support in my time of need. Unfortunately, my experience has been deeply disappointing. When facing significant distress and workplace challenges, I turned to Unison for guidance and representation. Instead, I encountered delayed responses, vague advice, and an overall lack of meaningful support.

Despite clearly expressing my desire for representation at my grievance meeting, I was advised it wasn't necessary. This left me vulnerable and without adequate advocacy. Furthermore, the guidance I received felt more like a defense of my employer's actions rather than the robust representation I expected from a union committed to protecting its members' rights.

Unison's refusal to support my case at tribunal due to a perceived lack of "reasonable prospects of success" feels like a dismissal of my legitimate concerns. Instead of championing my cause and helping me navigate the complexities of employment law, I was left to fend for myself, without clear options or recourse.

To add insult to injury, I was never warned that pursuing certain actions, like the ACAS/Tribunal route, could affect the level of service I'd receive. This lack of transparency further eroded my trust in the organisation.

Unison's role is to support its members, particularly during difficult times. Regrettably, in my case, they have fallen short of this mission. For anyone seeking genuine advocacy and meaningful support in workplace matters, I would caution against placing too much trust in Unison’s ability to deliver when it truly counts.

For those of us with Autism and ADHD, Unison’s inaction reveals an alarming lack of awareness, speaking volumes about their understanding of neurodiverse needs—something I hope disability associations and advocates would condemn.

It's ironic, the only time Unison responded promptly with something they COULD actually do, was when I asked to terminate my membership.

Please don't waste your money by joining this union.I didn't realise that that my employer actually partly funds the wages of our local unison representatives so straight away there was a conflict of interest. My rep would be having meetings with HR behind my back and it always felt like they were representing my employer rather than me.Avoid at all costs!!!!

I signed up for this union because I thought is the most competent one as is everywhere.
I needed them in January and apart of one of the reps coming to a meeting with me nothing happened. I was advised so,so wrong. Is the first time when I had problems so i trusted them knowing more than I do,but I made a big mistake trusting them.
For 8 months I tried to make them do something and they said they’ve done everything.
After that meeting the rep stood there and asked the manager if she knows a man that firms for a trust that has the same last name as she did so little respect for me as I was quite unhappy after the meeting.

In June I was told there will be a “conflict of interest” and I asked between whom and whom and I haven’t received an answer to this day.

As nobody from my local branch was able to help me in a simple case (I had screenshots and messages and you could see very clearly that there was a breach of company policy-should have been very straight forward if they wanted to help as it wasn’t a she said he said situation) I filled the complaint form on their website and Joseph McCusker answered and he sent what I’ve wrote in that form to the branch and I was contacted by one of the reps.

I did not mentioned the names of the reps in that as,again,all I wanted was my problem solved. But I thought that my complaint will be dealt with by a senior member.

So I went in circles and nothing happened.

£11.07 per month for nothing.
I don’t recommend Unison,if you are looking for a union look somewhere else.

Just like the others, if I could give unison a zero rating, I would. They clearly do not care about the employees and certainly provide no form of advice. They only care about their own pockets. They certainly speak to HR on the low and negotiate the worst outcomes for you, and act like they haven’t heard anything back, whilst HR confirms things only then Union was meant to know about. Clearly a breach of confidentiality. They provide no assistance with emails or contacting your employer. I missed out on a claim against my employers because the representatives do not know what they are doing and fail to respond to you within time!!! They then blame it on you and say you have missed the deadline or that you have no case, despite another firm and ACAS confirming there was a case but I missed out on the deadline . Unison know nothing about employee contracts and how to give proper advice when you need it most. The worst Union I have ever come across for the last 20+ years. A refund would be helpful. A huge let down to me, especially when I was at my most vulnerable and needed help the most. Also it is clear from reading the other reviews, I can tell I am not the only one who suffered such bad treatment by them. Shame on unison!!!! Steer clear if you can, unless you want to deal with rude, dismissive, illiterate waste of human beings. I’m now considering my own claim against Unison.

Leaving Unison today,

They are less than useless, they have done nothing to fight for the 24/25 pay rise and have just rolled over to labour.

You can’t get answers out of them, you constantly get shut down by reps.

All I wanted was some transparency on the 5.5% pay rise as for band 2 it’s a mere £32 extra per month about £380 for the year yet say a band 8d would be getting £2500 a year.

Staff have been voting to accept the 5.5% but once I’ve calculated what they get and tell them they then agree that they would have voted no!

So I ask unison to break it down in an email and I’m flat out refused.

They are really under thumb the work for labour not for members

Prevents it's members and others accepting 5.7% pay rise to justify itself, trying to extract more £, which they won't get! , encouraging its membership to strike . Absolute disgraceful lot.

Not even going to waste my time writing an essay about how bad these guys are!
Advised me to out in a grievance and then unable to speak to anyone for over two months. Told on numerous occasions that my rep was off sick but found out he was supporting a colleague with her issue at the same time!!
Literally every other day for two months I contacted them with no luck! It came to a point where the receptionist didn’t even have to ask for my membership when i call she knew it was me!!!

STAY CLEAR FROM UNISON

Well, where do I start, I have gotten involved with the union as it was recommended. However, from the very start, my representative was mystical and did not fully explain the information to me about policies within the workplace, or about the management/ HR not doing their jobs correctly. Never, mind them discriminating against me due to my disability and not following my reasonable adjustments. From there I was continuously asking for advice from my REP, who would only give me advice through a call and not through email, trying to be as avoidant as possible. First, I felt like WOW, what is the point of this, and why are they doing this to me. Next, They then advised me to call in sick continuously for 2 months, which fully angered the hell out of me, as I was like, what the point of calling in sick, I am well to work but use is allowing my workplace to fully bully me over email, not give me my payslips, or they are not paying my full salary as requested, and as I have advised my rep this numerous amount of times, They continued on, that there is nothing I was able to do, they had no idea and still were no help toward myself. From there I had a return-to-work meeting, which required me to discuss this with my line manager. However, had both HR discriminated against me due to my disability and the head of technology bullied me due to my disadvantages in life, and not following my reasonable adjustments. The rep did nothing but allow this to happen. The Head of Technology was never meant to be there, yet, they still allowed them to be there, seems to me that all my human rights were taken out of the window. What I recommend, is that you do not waste your money on a unison, speak with Acas as they would be your best bet, and never speak with the Rep from the union as they will share all of the information with HR allowing them to bully people and discriminate people. Most of the people who are working at the union are pensioners, who have nothing better to do, but allow people to be bullied and discriminated against due to their disability.

I am so lucky and sos my wife to have a representative like Karen.She has helped my wife and I get back to work and we both feel she really cares about our emotional and physical wellbeing.Unison are a great union to join and my wife and I really want to be part of unison because we have had such a positive experience.

A total waste of money. I have been with unison for over a year now and I needed to speak with a representative over an office decision that was urgent. The lady I spoke with told me I will be contacted and till date nobody has called me even after making my own effort to reach out to their help line.

Needed some advice after being a member for so long. Met with the rep after many cancellations on her behalf. She spent the meeting talking about my other team members instead of assisting with my issue. I was then told that she would get back to me, that was March and I am still waiting.