I am a proud trade unionist and have been fighting for workers' rights since long before I came into Parliament.

There is always a role to be played by trade unions in negotiating with management on behalf of their members.

We all know that workers do not like to strike, contrary to what this corporate government may want us to believe.

But workers in Britain get to that point more often than in other countries. Just compare Germany, which had 3.7 days lost to strikes per 1,000 employees in 2008, to here, where we had 28 days lost in the same year.

Grangemouth was a truly dark mark on industrial relations in this country, with employees being held to ransom over decisions that were made by those who had nothing to lose. Taxpayers also paid a significant price.

We need to ask ourselves: why do employees still feel undervalued? Why do they not exist on an equal and fair footing with their employers?

I believe we could improve the situation by looking to some of our European neighbours, who seem to have got it right in terms of relations across companies and have managed fairer and more sustainable growth.

The key to this success is the fact that in many of these countries employee representatives sit on company boards. They are on the same level as other directors and can offer a fresh perspective on the impact of board decisions on employees in the company.

It is of great benefit to employees who over here feel downtrodden and as though they have no job security. In a survey of Swedish employee representatives, one said: "We think of the employees who other board members sometimes forget."

All board decisions have a huge impact on employees and how many feel that profit-obsessed directors should have stopped to think about them when signing on the dotted line?

What we need to see is somebody championing their needs, the same way those of shareholders and management are also brought forward.

It would make final decisions more realistic and reduce the need for complex negotiations and strikes at the end point.

Employees' input is also invaluable to companies, as employees bring a greater understanding of the shop floor to the board.

One FTSE 100 company in Britain, FirstGroup, does have employees on its board and outgoing chairman Martin Gilbert said: "The few drawbacks are greatly outweighed by the benefits and having this two-way channel of communication has positively impacted on the running of FirstGroup."

Employee representatives would make Britain fairer for all. They would reduce the excessive salaries we have seen in recent years - energy bosses raking in millions while crippling their customers with eye-watering price rises, or bankers gambling with customers' money while raking in bonuses despite their losses.

In Germany Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn saw his bonus for 2012 cut by 20 per cent.

German companies often place short-term shareholder dividends much lower on the list of priorities. They look towards the future and towards stronger and more stable growth. What suits the interests of employees suits the interests of the economy as a whole.

The reality is that directors do not have that link to ordinary people that employee representatives may well have. They could make businesses more socially responsible in more ways than just through their own employees' rights.

Directors won't like it but it is time the British economy started working for everyone, not just the 1 per cent.

I led a debate in Parliament this week calling on the government to start looking at this model as a way to move us towards more responsible capitalism. Ed Miliband has been absolutely right in trying to move us in that direction.

Employment Minister Esther McVey was quite promising in her reply. She agreed that employee reps would mean benefits for both employees and directors. She said all the right words about the benefits of diversity and the desire to avoid another Grangemouth.

But, as they say, actions speak louder than words. And what spoke to me loudest from that debate was the lack of government action.

The minister was unwilling to push companies further down this road, despite all the benefits. She would have preferred companies to take employee representatives on voluntarily.

But as my colleague Andrew Smith remarked, those companies that are most reluctant might be the ones that need worker representation and could benefit from it the most.

This government has been portraying hard-working people as monsters through attacks on Unite and the hated gagging bill. I am seeing us return to a Dickensian system, where profit overrides everything.

Companies and government need to start treating workers like grown-ups and give them the responsibility and respect they well and truly deserve.

Jim Sheridan is Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North