Oldham MPs on rail strikes and whether they joined the picket

The strikes are planned for Tuesday, 21, Thursday, 23, and Saturday, June 25.

Train company Northern has asked for people to avoid travelling on their services on any day between Tuesday and Sunday – due to trains being in the wrong places as a result of strike action the day before.

Oldham’s stations have also been affected.

Across the country, Labour MPs such as Diane Abbott, Kate Osborne, and Richard Burgon all joined the picket lines.

However, Labour leader Keir Starmer reportedly ordered frontbenchers not to join picket lines outside stations.

We asked each Oldham MP whether they were attending a picket, and for their opinions of the strikes:

Jim McMahon

Jim McMahon’s representatives said they did not believe he would be on the picket line today.

Responding to The Oldham Times, the Oldham West and Royton MP said: “No one wants to see strike action, just like no-one votes to takes strike action lightly, but workers have been left with no choice because the government have refused to get round a table and negotiate.

“Where has the transport secretary been and what has he been doing? The government must get round the table to end these strikes and stop the disruption to people's lives.”

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon

Angela Rayner

The Falisworth MP told us she had commitments in the Commons today when we asked if she would be attending a picket, but she signalled her support on Twitter:

Workers have been left with no choice.

No one takes strike action lightly. I will always defend their absolute right to do so for fairness at work.

The PM needs to do his own job. His Government caused this. Now they must solve it.

— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) June 21, 2022

Failsworth and Ashton MP Angela Rayner

Debbie Abrahams

The MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth said she supports any worker’s right to withdraw their labour from an employer as a last resort, adding: “No worker withdraws their labour lightly.

“The Transport Secretary is being completely disingenuous and confrontational, saying he can't get involved in salary negotiations but is happy to change the law to allow strikers to be replaced by agency workers.

“Ministers should have dropped the boycott and held last-ditch talks to avert strike action but, instead, failed to spend a single second in trying to find a resolution.

“Passengers, schoolchildren, low-paid workers and patients need a resolution and they will not forgive the Government if they stand by and do nothing tangible to help resolve the issue.

“Trade Unions have driven improvements for working people since industrialisation from pay and conditions, to safety and health at work and much more.

“The stronger our unions, the less inequality. Conservative Governments - especially this one - will always seek to suppress our unions and the rights of workers. 

“There is no sincerity to levelling up and reducing inequalities. This is about securing income, wealth and power for the few.”

The MP’s representatives did not say if she would join the picket.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson told a meeting of the Cabinet that reforms were needed on the railways.

The Prime Minister said: “We need the union barons to sit down with Network Rail and the train companies and get on with it.

“We need, I’m afraid, everybody, and I say this to the country as a whole, we need to get ready to stay the course.

“To stay the course, because these reforms, these improvements in the way we run our railways are in the interests of the travelling public, they will help to cut costs for farepayers up and down the country.”

The Prime Minister said the modernisation programme was also in the interests of workers because “if we don’t do this, these great companies, this great industry, will face further financial pressure, it will go bust and the result will be they have to hike up the cost of tickets still further”.

That would result in the “disaster” of declining rail use, he warned.