The company will not deduct union fees from wages, but workers can still make private arrangements to pay them. Mr Woodhead did not know how many had chosen to do that.
About 120 staff at Land Meat, owned by the Talley family, have not had a seasonal break and are still on their previous contracts.
Affco, also owned by the Talley family, had been imposing individual contracts on all workers returning after a seasonal break, union director Darien Fenton said. The first plant to return was Rangiuru, in Te Puke, in June.
"They have used the fact that these people are seasonal workers to impose an individual agreement upon their return to work."
The only plant where workers had refused to accept individual contracts was Affco Wairoa.
"It's a heroic stand. It might mean they never get a job back," Ms Fenton said.
Pay, terms and conditions in the individual contracts were not as good as those in collective contracts, she said.
"How can we keep workers able to earn enough money to pay their bills? I have heard of some earning $200 to $300 a week under this new agreement that they said was going to increase wages."
The union will be fighting Affco's new requirement in the Employment Court, before three judges, in a case that begins in Auckland on October 5.
If the court decides Affco cannot make individual contracts a condition of getting a job, the company will have to pay workers what they have lost and not be able to make that requirement again. Ms Fenton said it would take time for the judges to make that important decision, and the Talleys would probably appeal if they lost.
Affco is also the first company to take advantage of new legislation this year, enabling it to end collective bargaining altogether. The union fights that case in the Employment Court before one judge on October 27.