No = no detriment! "If you vote NO...we will ask the employers to further improve their proposal so that it contains a 'no detriment' clause."
Sally Hunt also makes clear that there will be no strikes during the remainder of this academic year if the proposal passes and "is formally noted at the USS board."
Also significant that, while not recommending that you vote Yes (which is I assume beyond her remit, given HEC recommendation only to ballot), SH makes clear her strong support of the proposal.
No also = 14 days of strikes this term plus "plans for a fresh ballot of UCU members to escalate the action further in the Autumn", as those will be necessary to achieve No Detriment.
"If you disagree with me about the prospects for a 'no detriment' clause you should vote NO and commit to taking much more strike action in May and June and then again in the autumn"
Basically, SH is throwing down the gauntlet and announcing that UCU Left will get what they have been demanding if No prevails.
No splitting the difference between her approach and that of UCU Left or splitting the No vote between 'No Detriment' and 'Revise and Resubmit'.
Here's a rationale for her approach: the union can't take BOTH the UCU Left No Detriment approach AND the more moderate approach of, e.g., @sheffielducu and @CambridgeUCU, if NO prevails. It will have to choose one way or the other. A ballot that doesn't make clear what NO...
means won't make this clear. Cf. No for Brexit. Brexit means Brexit, but no clarity whether No = Norway or No Deal, or something else.
I'll add to the main thread because this gets lost in the subthread: Some have asked, why not a vote among the three alternatives of accept, revise and resubmit, and no detriment. Well, even setting aside voting paradoxes which result from such non-binary choices, there's this:
When it comes to the people who run the union at the national level, it's basically a two party system: IBL and UCU Left, with the occasional unaffiliated office-holder. So it makes sense that the vote resolves to a choice between the approaches of the two parties, ...
The need for such a vote to try to resolve things might be especially strong at a time when there's such division between the two sides.
I think it's noteworthy that the people who are disagreeing with me are no longer criticising me for ignoring power structures.
