Really? In the UK they provide free legal advice and accompany you to every meeting with your employer in any kind of HR dispute. Not sure about every union but definitely transport, teachers and actors.

That's not true. In individual cases you will often have a union rep/union lawyer available to you (for free) to help you deal with the employer/HR and help you assert your rights.

Uuhm yeah, they do. I can call my union representative right now to get help.

I was never bullied growing up because I always rolled with a crew who wouldn't hesitate to circle a threat. That's unions, they make you less likely to be an "isolated case".

Plainly wrong. One of the thing to do here when you have a personal issue with your company is telling your union that will pressure the company to comply.

That's literally the entire point of unions.

For example, in the UK, the tube lines were brought to a screeching halt because TFL wanted to take disciplinary action against a driver that failed a breatherliser test. (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-31372269)

They may or may not care about individuals even though they may use an individual case as an exemplar.

However the rest of these comments seem to suggest they do help individuals readily.

Would you care to elaborate on what seems a fairly implausible statement?

In Germany, they absolutely do. One of the core benefits of unions here is that they provide legal assistance to members in employment-related cases.

Providing legal assistance is different from them fighting hard for you.