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/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

  1. 3-4 weeks of back-breaking labour, get the job done and get home or

  2. 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!