Trade unions are essential to workers struggling to improve their conditions. But the leaderships of large trade unions don’t have the same interests as their workers. Too often, a reliance on union bosses leads ordinary workers to defeat, as leaders cancel or dial down militant action and preserve a state of peace with management.

In this video, rs21’s Ian Allinson looks at the alternative to the union bureaucracy – a vital, self-reliant politics of the rank-and-file membership.