diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/remove_chdir.yml b/changelogs/fragments/remove_chdir.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..527d19d48c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/remove_chdir.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+    - removed chdir from action plugins when using local connection, moved into plugin itself to avoid future issues with threads.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
index f633c5c2293..752829ddf45 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
@@ -1054,13 +1054,9 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
 
         # Change directory to basedir of task for command execution when connection is local
         if self._connection.transport == 'local':
-            cwd = os.getcwd()
-            os.chdir(to_bytes(self._loader.get_basedir()))
-        try:
-            rc, stdout, stderr = self._connection.exec_command(cmd, in_data=in_data, sudoable=sudoable)
-        finally:
-            if self._connection.transport == 'local':
-                os.chdir(cwd)
+            self._connection.cwd = to_bytes(self._loader.get_basedir(), errors='surrogate_or_strict')
+
+        rc, stdout, stderr = self._connection.exec_command(cmd, in_data=in_data, sudoable=sudoable)
 
         # stdout and stderr may be either a file-like or a bytes object.
         # Convert either one to a text type
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/local.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/local.py
index edeb9f40d53..14752b2cba7 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/local.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/local.py
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
     transport = 'local'
     has_pipelining = True
 
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+
+        super(Connection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        self.cwd = None
+
     def _connect(self):
         ''' connect to the local host; nothing to do here '''
 
@@ -76,7 +81,8 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
         p = subprocess.Popen(
             cmd,
             shell=isinstance(cmd, (text_type, binary_type)),
-            executable=executable,  # cwd=...
+            executable=executable,
+            cwd=self.cwd,
             stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
             stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
@@ -123,11 +129,19 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
         display.debug("done with local.exec_command()")
         return (p.returncode, stdout, stderr)
 
+    def _ensure_abs(self, path):
+        if not os.path.isabs(path) and self.cwd is not None:
+            path = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(self.cwd, path))
+        return path
+
     def put_file(self, in_path, out_path):
         ''' transfer a file from local to local '''
 
         super(Connection, self).put_file(in_path, out_path)
 
+        in_path = self._ensure_abs(in_path)
+        out_path = self._ensure_abs(out_path)
+
         display.vvv(u"PUT {0} TO {1}".format(in_path, out_path), host=self._play_context.remote_addr)
         if not os.path.exists(to_bytes(in_path, errors='surrogate_or_strict')):
             raise AnsibleFileNotFound("file or module does not exist: {0}".format(to_native(in_path)))