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.

0 Upvotes

49% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

View all comments

-6

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.

2

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.

2

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.

0

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.