Unions planning 48-hour strike from Tuesday will no longer take action after bosses come up with new proposals at Acas talks

A second planned 48-hour London tube strike was called off on Tuesday after the two unions involved agreed to suspend industrial action and transport authorities postponed moves towards job cuts for two months to allow detailed talks over the future of the underground.

Talks at Acas between London Underground (LU) bosses and the RMT and TSSA unions adjourned on Tuesday morning, with a strike scheduled to cause further travel misery in the capital on Wednesday and Thursday.

The deal struck will see all parties conduct a station-by-station review which could result in some ticket offices remaining open, and talks over how jobs will be changed or cut. Around 953 jobs cuts have been proposed under LU's modernisation plans, as well as wholesale ticket office closures across the network. For now, the voluntary redundancy programme has been paused.

The RMT's general secretary, Bob Crow, said: "After two days of intensive and detailed discussions through the offices of Acas we have now received proposals that halt the implementation of the job cuts which gives us the opportunity to discuss all of the issues away from the pressure cooker.

"We now have a golden opportunity to look again in detail at all of the concerns we have raised about the impact of the cuts on our members and the services that they provide to Londoners. That is exactly what we have been calling for throughout this dispute."

Crow said if there was "any further attempt to impose change from above, the action will go back on."

A TSSA spokesman said: "We have now agreed a process where all our serious concerns over safety and job losses will be seriously addressed through the normal channels. We are obviously pleased that we have agreed this process."

LU's managing director, Mike Brown, said: "The hard work of both the LU and union negotiating teams and the progress we have made at Acas over the last few days means we can now do that without further unnecessary disruption to Londoners."

LU repeated that it planned to have staff based in ticket halls, on gate lines and on platforms rather than in ticket offices, adding that changes would be implemented without compulsory redundancies.

Brown said: "All of this is of course just our proposals, there is flex in this as well. If someone said to me that there are 20 or so stations that have particular issues we haven't thought about, we're open to it, we want to hear from unions, we don't have the monopoly on good ideas."

He insisted the plans would not jeopardise safety. "We've had single-staffed stations for decades – now we've got instant communication, more police than before … All the stats show that the tube has never been safer. It's remarkable that unions think I would put forward a proposal that would make the tube less safe – it would be a career-ending move."

He denied that the plans were driven by budget cuts. "Station operation at LU is very expensive. But the biggest reason that we're doing this is that technological changes have driven people away from needing ticket offices."

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "TfL's [Transport for London] negotiators have been ready since November to discuss the detail around ticket office closures and wider modernisation of the tube. It's welcome news that the unions appear to recognise that, and will return to full and substantive discussions with TfL between now and the end of the consultation period in early April."

He added: "Modernisation is essential if we are to properly serve the millions of Londoners who rely on the tube every day, and who expect a bigger, better service that offers value for money whilst protecting future investment.Sitting down to discuss those proposals, free from the prospect of strike action, was always the only sensible way forward."

Val Shawcross, leader of the Labour group on the London assembly, said: "We now need the mayor to show some real leadership and launch a full public consultation on his proposed cuts to ticket offices and station staffing levels. There are some interesting ideas in TfL's plans and modernisation is needed, but Londoners should be given the chance to have their say and improve them."

The 48-hour strike was expected to start at 9pm on Tuesday and disrupt services until Thursday evening. During a similar strike last week, only about a third of tube trains ran.

Gwyn Topham