So the vote on the JPF is called off. @NTEUNational point out the lack of goodwill from university VCs undid the deal. But the numerous votes of no confidence in this deal from rank-and-file members almost certainly had a role to play in the national exec turn-around.

The attempt at a deal with the VCs without a member-led strategy was folly. The leadership of our union set out to offer a pay cut in our name in exchange for too little. It's understandable so many Branches rebelled.

Our organisational rift is clear, but not insurmountable. The distance between us - betw paid officials/staff and members and betw contingent and continuing staff - has been limiting our capacity to organise. But we can bridge these differences.

We can move forward together. And Branches will have to build capacity and lead by building a confident and hopeful alternative.

We need to connect a short and longer run strategy soon. @AlisonBarnes25 email sets out some of the things we could be doing to kick this off…

- Question financial claims and the options of management - It was always going to be imperative for our Branches to insist on financial information. No expert panel could do that for us at the institutional levels we need it. We have the resources in our membership to do this.

- More public campaigning for a public funding boost – even this Liberal government can’t let universities sink. On layoffs and the revenue squeeze - we can push pressure upwards together. We have to be the rock or the hard financial constraint and refuse to be cheap and flexible

- Continue Branch industrial and organising. The Framework was never going to excuse us from this. In fact it potentially created more case work issues and contradictions. Anyway, moving forward, we can get together to develop the long term strategy.

We don’t need to outsource strategy to national exec. I’m excited about the workload and de-casualisation strategies emerging. It’s only the beginning.

In the wake of this farce, new risks have now compounded the existing ones. The idea of asking for pay cuts is now in our employers' minds (e.g. UniMelb). The national exec of the NTEU are right – our employers have a great deal of power. But so do we.

We probably need to rest for a bit (or I do), then come together to figure out how we will lead from our Branches.

Join your Branch Committee or volunteer for case work, start a group in your workplace or network, read your EA, etc.