The Department for Business and Trade recently released the latest official statistics for trade union membership in the UK. Figures suggest that the long-term decline in union membership has maybe stabilised in recent years.
Across the four nations of the UK, Scotland exhibited the largest rise in union membership – increasing from 27% in 2024 to over 29% in 2025. In this blog post, we shine a light on Eilean Siar, a remote part of Scotland which has one of the highest rates of trade union membership in the UK. Using data from WISERD UnionMaps, we explore why this is and what it could mean for future generations.
Scottish Parliamentary elections
During the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary elections, Eilean Siar (also known as the Outer Hebrides or the Western Isles) briefly found itself at the centre of Scottish political attention. In what was described as a shock result, Scottish Labour narrowly captured the Western Isles constituency of Na h-Eileanan an Iar, ending almost two decades of SNP representation on the islands.
The election campaign was dominated by growing frustrations over the reliability of the state-owned ferry service and connections to the mainland. Nonetheless, this was an unanticipated result during what was otherwise a bad night for the Labour Party.
A tradition of organised labour
This victory for the Labour Party is perhaps less surprising when set in the context of the distinctive tradition of organised labour that has long contributed to the Western Isles being politically a two-horse race. Industries such as herring fishing, the merchant navy and the production of Harris Tweed once played a significant role in the islands’ economy.
The famous itinerant Hebridean Herring Girls who took part in strikes during the 1930s are remembered by statues in Stornoway harbour. In 1938, Stornoway dockers embargoed the import of mainland yarn in support of the islands’ millworkers and weavers. The landmark legal case that followed – which found in favour of the dockers – highlighted the importance of collective organisation among the workers of Eilean Siar.
Today, Eilean Siar exhibits the highest percentage of public sector employment in Scotland at 40%, with Health and Social Work accounting for the largest share of public sector workers. Other employers associated with the provision of public services and infrastructure include the local council, the port, the islands’ airports, energy distribution and broadcasting (Stornoway is home to the Gaelic media service BBC Alba*). Beyond the public sector however, by far the single largest industry within Eilean Siar is agriculture, forestry and fishing, accounting for almost a third of those in employment.
WISERD UnionMaps
What might this pattern of employment mean for trade union membership across Eilean Siar? WISERD’s UnionMaps website reveals that Eilean Siar is one of the most highly unionised places in not just Scotland but across all Great Britain. The data reveal that almost half of employees (48%) are union members. Union membership in Eilean Siar is even higher than it is along the River Clyde in areas such as West Dunbartonshire (41%), Renfrewshire (35%) and Inverclyde (37%) with their own long histories of shipbuilding and political activism. Eilean Siar is in fact the second most unionised place in Great Britain. Only Copeland in Cumbria, home to the Sellafield nuclear processing facility, is more unionised.
Eilean Siar provides another example of the importance of place in shaping contemporary patterns of union membership. Previous research by WISERD has demonstrated how former coalfield communities continue to display high levels of trade union membership decades after the decline of coal mining itself. Positive attitudes towards trade unions can pass across generations and continue to shape how workers understand employment relations. Eilean Siar may also serve to demonstrate how the past combines with the present to sustain high levels of trade union membership within this distant and beautiful part of Scotland.
*We are grateful to David Avery from the Prospect Union for his insights regarding potential sources of unionised employment on Eilean Siar.
Image credit: Virtual-Pano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
