The events in Grangemouth have divided public opinion and the press.

But I feel that Unite members and their leadership can rest easy in their beds in the knowledge that they have been on the opposite side of the debate to the right-wing elements of our society.

There are some who have turned against the trade unions during these last few weeks and have been quick to jump on the Prime Minister's bandwagon, treating trade unionists as the enemy within.

Some have made a good living from the sweat of the labour movement and the trade unions, and are now using their new-found friends in the business and lobbying community to discredit those who put them there in the first place.

But it is not possible to treat this incident, and the trade union movement, in black-and-white terms.

It is wrong to vilify those who are putting their careers on the line to stand up for the right to be respected at work.

It is clear that the union did its best to protect its workers in a situation where management did not respect employees who had shown loyalty for decades in some cases.

Workers were placed in an impossible position, and I am sure those who have criticised Unite in the last few days would have been among the first to criticise the union were it not to stand up for the workers and challenge management decisions.

I have some concerns about Unite's leverage policy. This is not based on the view that it is wrong to stand up for yourself but that industrial or political issues should not end up on the doorstep of the families that haven't been involved.

But it is easy for me, and other more senior politicians, to say that. And it is hypocritical and immoral for the tabloids to vent their synthetic anger about people camping outside doors, when this is how they make their own living.

Most are looking at this issue from the outside and are not faced with the prospect of losing their jobs and hard-won rights in the workplace.

I can well understand the anger and frustration of those camped outside managerial houses, and I am sure this option may well have crossed my own mind if I were in the same position.

I have long held the view that suppressing people's views and rights may achieve short-term and narrow goals, but in the long term democracy will suffer and those who feel oppressed will find other ways of expressing their views. Demeaning those who hold different views to your own, but who nevertheless operate within the law, is a dangerous route to pursue.

Sadly the right-wing press has too much sway and some of my Labour colleagues are more influenced by headlines than the desperate plight of those suffering under this callous coalition government.

But this in itself is misguided. We have seen the massively positive response to so-called "Red Ed's" energy price freeze policy and the living wage.

The public wants to see more radical, more socialist policies - policies that focus on the real issues about cost of living and workers' rights will lead us to a successful general election in 2015.

Shadowing the Tories and their lobbyists in the press and media will not. We need to represent the many, and not the few lobbyists and media representatives that seem to get a disproportionate say under this government. I suppose it is not the fault of some of my colleagues who have not experienced the realities of ordinary life or faced a Dickensian employer, and do not understand these issues the way that some of us do.

But, as I have in the past, I will continue to support and campaign for a more balanced and representative Labour Party at every elected level.

Jim Sheridan is Labour MP for for Paisley & Renfrewshire North. He chairs the Unite group of Labour MPs in Parliament and writes this article in a personal capacity.