The origins of formalised joint forest management (JFM) in West Bengal, India, successful in terms of both management and performance criteria, have generally been attributed either to the vision of a few progressive government officials, or to the bottom-up influence of organised local communities. This paper argued that a third important but neglected source of impetus were the front-line forest workers and their union, the West Bengal Subordinate Forest Employees Association. These forest workers were motivated to promote JFM by a desire to improve their own working conditions. By gradually fostering trust, they gave the communities in which they worked the means to develop a partnership with the state to protect local common forests from outside threats.