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Commuters could be set for a summer of delays as rail workers on several train routes have voted for strike action.

Southern Rail engineers were the latest to announce a five-day strike on Friday, to begin on 12 July. Northern Rail staff have also voted to strike.

The Rail and Maritime Transport (RMT) union said the Southern Rail strike was the result of a "comprehensive breakdown" in industrial relations.

The strikes come as the government plans to tighten strike laws.

The government has said it wants to change the law, so that unions will be required to prove that a majority of their members took part in a union ballot and that more than 40% of members of public sector unions must have voted for strike action in order for strike ballots to be considered valid.

RMT members will also join a planned 24-hour strike by London Underground drivers' union Aslef on 8 July over proposals to introduce overnight tube services.

And RMT members working for First Great Western have also voted to strike after failing to reach assurances over jobs, which they fear are under threat from the introduction of new Hitachi Inter-City trains from 2017. They will walk out at 18:30 on 8 July.

A First Great Western spokesman said: "Forty-one per cent of RMT members who work for First Great Western have voted in favour of this action and we are disappointed that our assurances over job security; the need for more, not fewer staff; and maintaining existing pay and conditions for those staff have not been heard.

"All of the issues raised by the RMT have been discussed with representatives and we believe we have made some progress. We are keen to talk further with the RMT to avoid our passengers and colleagues being impacted by strike action and we are seeking an early meeting with RMT."

RMT members working for Southern Rail will walk out from 17:00 on 12 July. They will also ban overtime over the weekend of 10-12 July.

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Union members at Southern, which operates commuter services between London and the Sussex coast, voted 9-1 for strike action, the RMT said.

The RMT said hundreds of engineers were involved in the dispute and warned the strike would hit services.

In a statement, Southern Rail said: "We are disappointed that the RMT has decided to take this action at this time in the franchise, especially as we have been having meaningful talks with the union throughout this process about the issues raised."

It added Northern Rail workers voted 4-1 in favour of strike action.

The union said it was in dispute with Northern Rail over a series of issues, including the removal of permanent posts and the creation of zero-hour jobs via a contract with a security company, cuts to booking offices and attacks on the role and responsibility of train guards.

The union said Northern Rail had also given no commitment that there would be no compulsory redundancies beyond the end of its current franchise in February 2016.

Last month, a planned rail strike by workers from the RMT union was suspended after an offer of a 2% pay rise this year.