The Public and Commercial Services Union has set the bar to other unions in Scotland in promoting open, widespread and inclusive member engagement on the independence referendum debate.

At a special consultative conference on Saturday February 22, Scottish branch delegates representing 90 per cent of our almost 29,000 Scottish membership voted overwhelmingly to recommend that their union does not take a campaign side on independence.

Ahead of our democratic vote, media speculation and spin called the result wrongly, with the Herald front page leading "Boost for the Yes campaign as trade union to back independence."

There have been others who assumed that PCS would vote Yes.

Back in June 2013, I responded to an opinion piece in the Scotsman in which Professor Gregor Gall confidently declared "PCS will likely vote Yes."

So the media called it wrong. Conspiracy theories over who planted this idea and their motivation are still running among the social media insomniacs.

Let us not get diverted. The leadership of my union should be proud of our achievement and the lead they have taken in the movement.

The thorough consultation carried out with our members and the democratic processes have entitled every member to have their say and for their votes to count.

Over the past year, we have deeply engaged members in the Scottish referendum debate, which culminated in our conference last month.

Every PCS member in Scotland received a booklet outlining the case for three propositions - that PCS i) take no campaigning side; ii) campaigns for independence; and iii) campaigns against independence encouraging them to participate in good old-fashioned trade union all-member mandating meetings.

High turnouts were recorded across the country and many views were thoroughly debated.

In the end some 18,025 votes were cast for taking no campaigning side, to 5,775 for the union to support independence.

That no branch was mandated to vote to oppose independence is the big issue.

While Yes Scotland cannot claim PCS as the latest acquisition to trade unionists for independence, Better Together must ask itself why members of the lead union of British civil servants have outright rejected the case for campaigning to stay in the UK.

In my view, there are several simple reasons.

The politics of austerity, pay freezes, increases in pension contributions and job cuts emanating from the Tory-led Westminster coalition have hit government workers hardest.

We have seen jobs cut and offices closed throughout Scotland. The public-sector scandal of this age is that 40 per cent of PCS members administering universal credit are dependent on it themselves to top up their wages in order to have levels of decency.

And then there are the malicious attacks on Civil Service terms and conditions, privatisation and overt right-wing ideological assault on workplace trade union rights from departmental ministers such as Francis Maude, Eric Pickles and Michael Gove.

The lack of overt public support from Labour on basic trade union workplace organisation and collective bargaining in the public sector against the most vehement neoliberal ideologues in a generation is astounding.

Instead, we are presented with the despair of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls's austerity-lite economics and Johann Lamont's abandonment of universal principles as a "something-for-nothing" culture.

Is it any wonder then that the limited social democratic glimmer of the SNP might offer a flicker of hope?

Scottish members of PCS are not stupid. They know that John Swinney is not Tommy Sheridan in a tweed suit.

Of course the SNP is not a socialist party or the new political wing of the organised working class in Scotland.

Its business-friendly leanings, low-tax preferences and macro-economic outlook are at odds with PCS policies - but to the credit of the SNP in government, our members have recognised a refreshing approach in a willingness to engage and negotiate with our union - resulting in our no compulsory redundancy guarantee and a living wage to all Scottish government workers.

The reality is that the SNP has put into practice some basic Labour values, while Scottish Labour continues to lick the now dried-over scabs of its 2008 defeat wounds, instead of agreeing where it should find easy to agree on and concentrating its challenge in presenting a Labour alternative to the tax and corporate leanings of the SNP.

In the meantime, public opposition by SNP ministers, and more importantly non-implementation of Maude's facility time cuts aimed to unseat our union organisation continue.

Last month, Swinney committed, against Cabinet Office advice, that the Scottish government would continue check-off - the means whereby trade union dues are collected by the employer.

In Scotland's Future, the Scottish government's blueprint for an independent Scotland, job protection and no compulsory redundancies are offered for the 30,000 civil servants currently working for UK departments in Scotland should they join their 20,000 Scottish government colleagues already in receipt of these PCS-negotiated demands. The Deputy First Minister publicly committed to this at the PCS conference - and we will hold her to it in the months to come in the referendum debate.

In this climate, it is a very attractive prize against an alternative of further cuts to jobs, pay and services.

The PCS national executive committee will now consider what our members have said and make recommendations to our annual delegate conference on how we develop "PCS informs - you decide."

We will not be campaigning for any side in the referendum, but unless the No side starts to offer a positive alternative, or any information at all, then we will hardly be in a position to present a balanced case.

Lynn Henderson is PCS Scottish secretary