You may be aware of the upcoming strike on Network Rail taking place next week on the 21, 22nd and 25th June. It is expected to have a very serious impact on all rail services including GWR with and as a result passengers are being asked not to travel on these strike days. For more information please see these BBC reports here and here.
If you rely on the affected rail services to travel to campus / site and don’t have any alternative ways of getting there, you are likely to be affected by this action.
Speak to your manager: If you think that you will be affected, please speak to your line manager as soon as possible and before 21 June so you can plan with them the best way of managing this situation for you and your department.
Free parking for affected staff: To help the situation the University will be offering free parking on the rail strike days to those staff who have to drive instead of getting the train to get to work / site.
Be flexible wherever possible: We are asking managers to be as flexible as possible for staff on these strike days and to use the approach in the University’s Guidance on staff attendance during periods of major traffic disruption or severe adverse weather.
The options for you to discuss with your line manager if you are unable to travel to site are as follows:
For staff who can work from home effectively - to agree with your line manager to work from home on those days;
For those who can on cannot work from home - we would need to follow the options in section 12 of the University’s Guidance on major traffic disruption or severe adverse weather - with you taking annual leave, TOIL (or flexi-time or worked time back) or authorised unpaid leave, or a combination of these.
If you and your manager have any questions about applying this guidance please contact your HR Advisor or Business Partner