A SEVENTY-TWO-HOUR Tube strike was suspended yesterday after London Underground agreed to put all redundancies on hold.

Transport workers’ union RMT announced it was able to find common ground with Tube management with its Fit for the Future programme of ticket office closures, jeopardising 960 jobs and raising safety issues for staff and passengers, up for review. 

RMT’s acting general secretary Mick Cash thanked members for the “solidarity and determination” which allowed the union to “secure real movement and significant progress on the issues at the heart of this dispute.”

At a meeting between the RMT and the London Underground on Friday, Tube bosses had demanded an end to the dispute in return for reconsidering the planned cuts.  Trade unionists declined, given the compromises such an offer would entail. 

But at the end of the bank-holiday weekend London Underground seemed to have reconsidered, allowing for a station-by-station review to take place and for discussions to continue until full agreement is reached. 

“Preconditions have been removed, protection of earnings has been agreed and we now have a viable framework for a proper review of the cuts and closures programme,” said Mr Cash.

London Mayor Boris Johnson attempted to pass off the strike suspension as “a victory for common sense” but Mr Cash was adamant that there were “very important concession won by the union.”

Mr Cash argued that had RMT withdrawn from the dispute, as proposed by London Underground, the union would have been powerless to stop further cuts to services and jobs.

“By standing strong, your resolve and unity has forced London Underground to back down,” he told workers.

Further talks will take place between the union and the Transport for London group on questions of job security, reforms to services and safety for Tube workers.