Tube boss: I won't claim victory after strike is called off

Tube boss Mike Brown said today he was happy for the RMT union to claim victory after calling off its threatened three-day strike.

The union said it had achieved “real movement and significant progress” in talks, but the London Underground chief said the main compromise — to drop a requirement for station supervisors to re-apply for their jobs — was on offer before last week’s strike.

Mr Brown said: “It’s not in my nature to spout about victory or defeat. I have been clear from the outset that we have got a commitment to our staff that they will not lose out financially and redundancies will only be voluntary.”

Unions and LU will thrash out staffing levels station by station, but Mr Brown insisted he was “sticking to his guns” on the mass closure of ticket offices.

Suspension of the strike action will come as a relief to the Mayor. Tension had been mounting between Boris Johnson and TfL over contingency plans for another walkout. The Mayor was agitated by claims he was being outmanoeuvred by union chiefs.