SIPTU representatives have today (Tuesday, 27th April) sent an urgent request to Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) seeking an emergency hearing over advanced plans to transfer Greystones Home Help Services to a new “for profit” provider without any proper consultation with union members. SIPTU Organiser,  John Hubbard, said: “SIPTU members are profoundly concerned over the future of Greystones Home Help Services. This is a very important and vital service for thousands of local people in the wider community. Our members have decades of loyal service and are now understandably very fearful for their futures. The decision to transfer this essential operation to a “for profit” organisation has been taken without any proper consultation and in the absence of any sustainable options being properly explored. We are demanding urgent and meaningful consultation without any further delay. “SIPTU representatives have written to the Board of Management asking that they go to the WRC and engage with us. Their refusal will indicate its blatant disregard for this dedicated workforce and service users and will not bode well for the long term future of these essential community services.” He added: “Our members in Greystones Home Help Services have provided this essential caring service to older members in the Greystones community throughout the Pandemic. They have been rightly hailed as frontline heroes so for their representatives to be ignored like this by management is absolutely disgraceful.”