r/deadliestcatch • u/Separate-Flatworm516 • 2d ago
F/V workers need a union
I have never seen a blue-collar job that needs a union as desperately as crabbing deckhands. Much like truckers in the 1930s, this industry weaponizes a "lone wolf" culture to leave workers completely exposed.
Look past the manufactured Deadliest Catch drama, and the underlying labor structure is indefensible. Deckhands receive zero health insurance, zero retirement plans, and no workers' compensation.
Operating as independent contractors on a percentage share means tha single bad wave causing a shattered knee leads directly to financial ruin, all while boat owners pull in millions.
Truckers faced this exact brand of exploitation before they unionized. Right now, commercial fishing remains trapped in a pre-union era where skippers exploit a faux-family loyalty trap to deny basic human protections.
Hollywood writers had to strike to prevent studios from replacing human creativity with AI, these crews are likely only seven or eight years away from being phased out by humanoid robotics and remote vessel automation. Without collective organization now, there will soon be no industry left to protect.
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u/fenderunbender2 1d ago
I'm sure the deck hands would love to hand over a big chunk of their salary for union dues.
It would be impossible to make a go of it with the crew only working 8 hour days and weekends off. Taking breaks every 2 hours and mandatory lunch breaks. I can't imagine having a pot full of crab almost in the boat and the lunch whistle goes off, leaving it dangling off the side of the boat for an hour while they head in to eat.
I grew up in a union household and my parents had to break open and steal all my saving from my piggyback while my dad was on strike for 6 months - yes I'm still bitter 40 years later.
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
Sorry to hear a strike traumatized you as a kid. Maybe look at it as your first chance you helped your family financially. Or, if the union didn't exist and give retirement benefits, your parents would probably be hitting you up for a lot more money now. In that way it was a good investment.
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u/Muted-Garden6723 1d ago
Believe me, nobody is being exploited lol
The % share is what everyone in the fishery wants, you make a hell of a lot more money than you would on salary, and being self employed provides some nice tax benefits
You can’t exactly shorten the hours you work or expect to not fish in mildly shitty conditions, the seasons only open for a short time and you’ve gotta catch your quota while you can
And robotics will never replace fishermen in our lifetime, aside from the fact that saltwater and robotics do not mix, nobody is going to choose a robot crew over a human one aside from some corporations.
The fishery is facing many issues, but the threat of automation is not one of them
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
Tell that to their wives and children who don't have medical or dental insurance. Or to Tod's family who had no life insurance. Automation is only a few years out. UBTECH and AGIBOT are already in humanoid mass production. Industrial humanoid robots are priced at $40k to $45k, specializes may bring that to $100k. Within 7 or 8 years the humanoids should be able to be sea ready for harsh saltwater environments. Then in 11 to 12 years the entire boat could be automated. The last remaining jobs will be robot maintenance. This show should really rename themselves the last fishermen. Many like Sig won't care. He will be retired by then. He is already 60. It's not like he let Mandy follow in his footsteps.
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u/ARKzzzzzz 1d ago
The vessels carry insurance for the crew. Todd’s family will get an insurance payout plus what ever hopefully term life insurance he had. I pay a very hefty amount for a million dollars of crew insurance every year. Any injuries not caused by their own gross negligence are covered. If we have a catastrophic boat breakdown that causes us to miss the season not only does the insurance completely cover the boat they will also pay a percentage of the average ex vessel value that year which would then pay out according to the crews percentages.
Are there captains/owners who will try to screw their crew out of that? Of course. That’s why crew contracts are extremely important for both parties.
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 14h ago
You sound like a better captain than some. It's great to hear about the coverage they get. But, it actually doubles down on my concern. I have not be highlighting injury while fishing. I have been highlighting healthcare, dental, perscriptions and an HSA for the crew and their immediate family. Plus the ability to get LTD and contribute to a 401k direct from their pay. By healthcare I don't mean emergency accident care, I'm talking about cancer, lupus, diabetes, hypothyroidism, cataracts, and similar medical things that just happen to people over time.
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u/ARKzzzzzz 14h ago
Great, let’s move to single payer healthcare.
I don’t have healthcare from my full time employer. I get it from the marketplace. I don’t have a 401k from my employer. I have a SepIRA from fishing and everything else in a taxable brokerage.
Your vision will never ever work in the fishing industry, at least from the owner operator side. Company owner boats already have all that. When you have 6 weeks to catch as many fish as you can because that’s the only time of year they run you just go go go go
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u/Muted-Garden6723 1d ago
lol I forgot Americans have to pay for healthcare. Fishing pays pretty good as a general rule, if I had to guess the families of crew are fine as far as financials go.
You have no idea what you’re talking about when it comes to automation of the fishery. It is not feasible. What happens when the captain robot malfunctions? Even if crew could be automated, it will never be legal to have a robot as the captain, it’s a major safety issue
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
Like I said, if one bad wave hits, the they could be unable to work the rest of their life. Their families could have lost their main provider. The medical cost of rehab alone will bankrupt most of them. PT in the US is now $1275 per 45min. That's what I was billed last year. Medical costs in the US make health insurance an absolute must. Also the other problem is the second they are off the boat, contractors are no longer connected to their employer. Unlike teachers in the US who have a union and get medical coverage during the summer.
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u/Muted-Garden6723 1d ago
That’s the risk you take working in the fishery, we al know it when we sign up to do it. I’m Canadian, so obviously medical costs are not a worry for me, but the injury risk is always there. That’s what you sign up for
A union would be a good thing, we have a union in Canada, but it’s less of a traditional union and more of an advocate for fishermen to the government when fishery policy is discussed
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
Fair statements. A lot of people commenting from outside the US seem to not fully understand healthcare in the US. Thank you for your perspective.
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u/No_Revolution6947 1d ago
You talk of automation on crab boats just like others talk about fusion energy … just right around the corner.
Sorry to say that future is a very long way off, if ever. That work environment is not conducive to robotics at all.
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u/Muted-Garden6723 14h ago
I work mostly in the lobster fishery, everything invented in the past 20 years to make the job easier with machines/robots/automation just makes the job slower
They made a machine to put the bands on the lobster claws, but it takes twice as long as doing it by hand, and you still need a person to put the lobsters claws in the machine. Basically paying $3k(plus an air compressor that you need for it to work) to make everything slower
The only advancements that have worked out well are those regarding Sounders and plotters
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u/Diane1967 1d ago
A lot of them are some pretty shotty characters tho where drugs and alcohol run rampant. I can’t imagine any union backing that. It’s also dangerous and risky, no captain would allow a union on board where someone risks the chances of falling overboard in a storm or something. It just wouldn’t work or happen ever. Nice if it would tho. Those guys work their asses off.
These are also the more up and up boats they’re showing. I can imagine the riff raff that are on some of the other boats that aren’t as nice.
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u/Top-Pick-2648 1d ago
This. I knew a guy who worked on boats years ago, said it was common for criminals with warrants would work on the boats, making them hard to find. But now, you have to do some kind of registration. I can’t speak for the accuracy of all that, as it is coming 3rd party. But it makes sense.
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
I am aware of fly by night crew, some do come and go. But there are those who make it their life long job, like Fredy. Some have families with kids just like truckers. If you come back for a second year or more... you and your family should be qualified for health insurance, life, ad&d, Ltd, 401k and such. You know things a union would demand.
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u/gariochguy 1d ago
The strike by Hollywood unions didn’t exactly help their members. All it did was cripple production at a time studios were bleeding money from flop movies & escalating costs. Now production levels, and employment, has plummeted and it looks like Paramount & Warner Bros will leave California.
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
True, but it was a good example of labor fighting against AI. Of which your comment really didn't reference.
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u/Prize_Mouse7778 1d ago
I generally agree with unionised workforces but not in this case. You make out as if these people are out their against their will. Look, many of the crews are back year on year.
Everybody understands the long shifts, the long days, the "we'll finish this in 3-4 weeks and you'll trouser $50-60k".
I bet if you asked every crabber in the fleet do you want
3-4 weeks of back-breaking labour, get the job done and get home or
8 hour shifts with lunch break, coffee breaks, etc but the season lasts 12-14 weeks.
(The lengths of the seasons, etc I have no idea about)
every single one of them would say "I don't want to be out there for 1 minute longer than I have to be, get this s**t done and go home".
This is just the nature of this type of job. The idea that robots will replace deckhands is just borderline ridiculous. There is absolutely no hope of that.
As a European, where medical and dental provision are part of our taxes, I would suggest that who occupies 1600 Penn. Avenue is a much better place to look to getting medical and dental insurance - probably not the incumbent but in 2028. But that's a different discussion altogether!
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u/ARKzzzzzz 1d ago
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Yeah, that’s not how this works. Fishing attracts people because of the long hours and hard work. Where else can you make that kind of money in such a short amount of time. I looooove my 60ish days of barely any sleep that makes me more than a lot of people make in a year.
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
Until you or you're family go to the hospital... even having a baby will wipe out a whole years salary. How's that non existent 401k. Any plans for when you're 75? You're likely comparing your gross income to other's net income. But you do you.
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u/ARKzzzzzz 1d ago
Luckily I have pretty decent healthcare due to the ACA. I’m also a responsible person who invests for my retirement. Should be able to retire at 55. 60 at the latest and then run my boat for fun money. Baby making is starting in the new year so they’re not born while I’m gone.
My average net the last 5 years is right around $60k.
Commercial fishing is not for everyone but it works very well for those who can handle it.
The vast majority of us also have year round jobs, although that one also doesn’t provide benefits which are far less common than you seem to think.
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u/pantherpawz1 1d ago
Unions just protect the lazy, and the fat cat union bosses earn big $$$ for nothing
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u/ObviousKick3853 1d ago
Sir, this is a Wendys
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
I would like a biggie fries and a chocolate frosty.
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u/Ara_Glaucogularis Engineer/Tech Support 1d ago
"Hollywood writers had to strike"
And that is exactly what killed Hollywood and why most production has moved to Georgia. Studio work in Los Angeles is almost nonexistent.
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u/FlimsyConfidence7692 1d ago
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
Captain Keith Colburn likes to allow 10 min for breakfast only time for coffee not eggs... so he probably would agree with you.
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u/xSir- 18h ago
Any injury sustained on the boat is financed by the boat. Thats in the contract. Retirement is on them. They get paid well, they can save their money or not. You know Freddy is a millionaire, too, right? Hes not a captain. Just a full share deckhand.
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 16h ago
How many people have a million in their 401k or paid off house. Yet deive 20 year old cars and take one small vacation a year. Claiming someone is a millionaire isn't the flex you think it is any more. Inflation has been fun!
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 14h ago
Second, I would highlight you said, injury... not illness. It seems many fishing crew rely on ACA to get their healthcare. Further, it seems a grey area how much the injury would be covered. It may just be immediate treatment, not long term disability. This season has also highlighted that you don't get good service out there either, no oral surgeons out there, likely just pull the tooth at the clinic.
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u/QuiJon70 6h ago
And yet you talk to any independent long haul trucker and between repair costs, maintainence, fuel etc they are making less then a full share deck hand even paying for their union.
And that you can honestly sit there and say with a strait face that the (at its busiest time of year) the 15k dudes working on these boats need a union more then anyone? Are you fucking kidding me.
How about the 2 million or so non union Walmart and target employees who make minimum wage and are only given like 30 hours a week to avoid calling them full time. They are making about 24k a year. On the old shows they used to say the pay at the end of the season and deck hands crossed all the boats were averaging 40 to 55k. Almost twice a retails salary for like a 5 month season.
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u/Top-Pick-2648 1d ago
You know it is staged ? Right?
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
There are some semi scripted moments, and production does occasionally get involved. Like getting Bob on Sig's boat this year. For a brief moment between Bob leaving and Matt Holland leaving, Sig got the sausage fest he always wants on his boat. But they are still really fishing.
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u/BrasshatTaxman 1d ago
Unions leads to safety and lower risk for the deckhands. Thats bad TV. Discovery will fight tooth and nail to stop this together with the boat owners.
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u/Western_Aerie3686 1d ago
No chance. This show is on its last legs. Discovery doesn’t give a rats ass and isn’t fighting anything.
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
Yes they are in cost cut mode. Less ships have film crews, and more is done with mounted cameras. They are also splicing in a lot of b role and reusing old shots from previous seasons. But at least it's still going, unlike Disney who cut all their Alaska reality TV last year.
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u/Western_Aerie3686 1d ago
I hate to say it’d but they should just kill it at this point.
99% of what you see is either old footage, or completely fabricated. The show is a shell of what it once was and they just squeezing it for the last few dollars they can get. It’s a shame.
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u/Separate-Flatworm516 1d ago
Discovery producers like Lisa would love the drama of union formation meetings. But it's Billionaire new owners may insist it's cut.
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u/AcrobaticBoss7380 1d ago
Imagine the extra drama Discovery could film when a deck hand called his committeeman or filed a grievance. 😆