A year after a bitter strike ended with the birth of a union, most employees at southern Alberta's Lakeside Packers say they are happier at work.

The three-week strike in the small city of Brooks was marked by violent confrontations between the strikers and busloads of people crossing the picket line.

Ashley Grandy, now a shop steward at Lakeside Packers, says winning that first union contract has forced many changes inside the plant.

"People are not afraid anymore to bring up their concerns, they're not afraid to go to a doctor, that they'll be fired. So people are a lot happier in that sense."

'There's respect and dignity'

Last year, employee Godwin Iwanagbe compared working conditions on the kill floor to that of a Third World country.

Strikers had claimed they weren't allowed to take bathroom breaks, that they weren't allowed to file claims when they were injured, and that they were harassed by their supervisors.

Iwanagbe now says he senses the difference at work.

"There's respect and dignity. I feel happy when I'm going to work."

Although 46 charges were laid during the strike, mostly for minor offences like vandalism, RCMP say many of those charges were dropped and a sense of calm has returned to Brooks.

'Not that happy'

Workers, however, say that despite receiving a raise last week, salaries should be higher.

Five-year meat cutter Robert Akol says change is slow.

"I am happy, but not that happy. I need a lot of things to be changed down there."

Others say the changes inside Lakeside have more to do with Alberta's labour shortage and management's desperate need to hold onto employees than the creation of a union. Lakeside Packers is currently short 300 staff.