Unionen Reviews 

Absolutely USELESS. Will take your membership fees (which are not small) and will do NOTHING for you when you need them. In a tough situation, you are on your own. Save your money and also remember to check that if your salary is under a certain limit, it makes no sense to be paying so much in fees throughout the years. I wish I never registered as a member in the first place. Horrible experience.

They are useless and powerless.

More than defend your rights, they are the messengers of the employer.

Unionen have ZERO experienced full time staff and rely solely on volunteers to act as representatives. This means that it is treated as a social club for easy manipulated staff to push the membership to all company members.
Unfortunately, this means that when you have an issue that needs support. Where do you go to? Thats correct. You go to the reps that volunteer within your company. Who have little to ZERO experience and therefore cannot advise you or support you.
To summarise, this company is nothing but false advertising that prays on weak willed individuals, so that they feel included and protected. When in reality, the Unionen founders are just racking up membership fees, sending out marketing bulletins that look like they are a reputable company to create a false narrative.
When they are needed to act they all disappear and put any support on unqualified, inexperienced representatives that can offer no help what so ever. Avoid at all costs! Save your money and get Akassa in Sweden. Unionen fees just aid founders lifestyles and add to your bills.

Commercial company that didn’t help my situation at all, last employer let me go without negotiation from händlägare. Have now to go back to my home country because of them.

SCAM

There are many issues but here are a fee of them:

1. Policy on Local Representatives
Unionen has intentionally introduced a policy requiring local representatives within each company. These representatives are elected by members’ votes and serve as your point of contact for support. While you can always call Unionen to speak with an agent, they will under no circumstances provide you with legal support if your company has local representatives. The problem is that these representatives are not employed by Unionen, meaning their volunteer responsibilities carry no liability for themselves or Unionen.
They are not experts in labor law; they are your colleagues with different areas of expertise. Unionen cannot enforce them to take any training, as they are not employees of the union. Although they have access to Unionen’s legal support, they can choose whether or not to help you. If they refuse, your only option is to decline signing or agreeing to anything until you are forcibly terminated. Only then will Unionen assist you directly. This policy is deliberately designed to offload work from Unionen and shift responsibility onto members.
Members working at the same company rarely dare to challenge HR out of fear of losing their own jobs. As a result, you are often victimized or led into thinking you’re getting the best possible deal, while it is often the worst. These local representatives are not lawyers, nor are they bound by any code of conduct or ethics.

2. Random Competence Among Ombudsmen
The competence of Unionen’s ombudsmen is completely unpredictable. Some are so incompetent that you’re better off handling matters on your own. They simply collect all the documents, summarize the case, ignore your questions, and reject your requests without offering any explanation.
Others genuinely want to help but lack the necessary competence. You might know labor laws better than they do, and they often approach your case with fear or negativity. Their advice is poor, and they push lowball offers. To be fair, there is a third category of ombudsmen who are competent and helpful, but finding them is rare and entirely random.

3. Conflict Between Legal and Insurance Departments
Unionen’s legal department often conflicts with its insurance services. This is not about Unionen Akassa but the complementary income insurance, Unionen Inkomstförsäkring. If the legal department makes poor decisions and fails to defend you effectively, it benefits both insurance funds.
Whatever happens with Unionen Akassa also affects Unionen Inkomstförsäkring. For example, if the legal team negotiates a contract with an incorrect clause, you may become liable for repaying insurance benefits. One instance from my own experience: I was billed for reimbursement from my employer because the contract I signed lacked crucial details, classifying it as severance pay. As a result, I paid double taxes and had to repay insurance benefits for money I had already been taxed on before becoming unemployed.
When I raised this issue with Unionen’s legal team, they simply said, “We don’t handle tax issues,” effectively telling me to deal with it on my own.

I fully support empowering unions, but Unionen, along with its insurance services and Akassa, operates like legal scam artists. They exploit people within the bounds of the law, preying on unemployed individuals who lack the financial resources to fight back in court (though karma might eventually catch up with them).

If you’re being mistreated by Unionen:
• Push as hard as possible to escalate your case and request a different ombudsman.
• Never trust them blindly.
• If you can afford it, always seek a second or even third legal opinion.
• If you cannot afford a lawyer, never sign anything in haste or under pressure from fear, uncertainty, or doubt (FUD)—a tactic they frequently use. Take your time to review all documents, ask for clarifications, and refuse to sign until everything is corrected.

When FUD doesn’t work, their only strategy is to burn you out. Stay persistent, and they won’t be able to do anything except help you.

Despite reaching out multiple times for help regarding a toxic work environment, unfair treatment, and salary issues, and employer breaking the law, I received no support. My employer continued to maintain a hostile atmosphere, and Unionen failed to intervene or offer any meaningful assistance.

For a service that is meant to protect and support workers, I felt completely let down. In the end, it felt like a waste of money, as Unionen seemed indifferent to the issues I was facing. I would not recommend their services.

I will request international IT workers to stay away from Unionen. They are smart and have english speaking agent to trap you into believing that they will help when you need it.. ask for a monthly payment of between 250-350 SEK.
After paying for 16 years, for the first time I requested help for just 3 months of gap in my work, they refused me.

I work with my own company and had verified if my insurance will cover, they had said yes.

The Unionakassan is a bigger fraud. If they realise you dont speak good Swedish, they assign non-Swedish case workers who will request documents after documents. I wasted 4 months chasing, translating and supporting them for zero outcome.

Then Unionen will offer a lawyer saying that you need to keep your membership. You oay for a few more month, they lawyer will return saying he cannot help.
16 years of investment for no help!