Small business owners in London have been warned that their commute to work could be disrupted, as rail workers on some of the capital's busiest routes prepare to vote on strike action.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are holding a strike ballot of more than 3,500 workers at South West Trains, First Capital Connect and National Express East Anglia over plans to axe over 1,000 jobs.

Voting commences on March 3 until March 17, and if the strike goes ahead it would cause major disruption to passengers in the southeast.

"The government has said it will ride out the recession by investing in public projects, but if it allows train companies to decimate jobs it will be subsidising redundancies while the privateers continue to pay fat dividends to their shareholders," said Bob Crow of RMT.

South West Trains called the RMT, "out of touch with the reality of the current unprecedented economic environment" and said the job cuts were necessary and would protect jobs in the long term.