https://alaskaseafoodprocessors.com/index.php?view=shifts_and_breaks
A shift pattern is a planned schedule that defines how work hours are organized over a day or a week, including the number of shifts, their start and end times, and how employees rotate between them. In the seafood processing industry, there are three types of shift patterns: a main shift, day and night shifts, and A, B and C shifts.
The main shift a shift pattern where the majority of employees work a single shift, such as from 7am to 11pm. After most people go home, either a small group stays behind for cleanup, or the facility has a dedicated overnight cleanup crew.
Rest breaks are usually every 2 to 3 hours, depending on the facility. If employees want breakfast, they must eat before their shift. Employees will have meal breaks for lunch and dinner. Depending on the facility, meal breaks last between 30 minutes to 1 hour. Because everyone eats at the same time, you can expect a long line of hungry seafood processors waiting for their trays of food.
This shift pattern is common at canneries that require daily thorough cleaning. It is also common at facilities located in small towns, possibly due to local ordinances or residents not wanting to be disturbed by seafood processors working late.
A day and night shift is a shift pattern in which half of the employees work during the day and the other half work at night. The day shift runs from 6am to 6pm, and the night shift runs from 6pm to 6am. Clean up is at the end of each shift.
A rest break is every three hours. Meal breaks occur in the middle of the shift, either at noon or midnight. Employees can eat breakfast or dinner before and after their shift. With this shift pattern, meals are served four times a day.
This shift pattern is primarily used by year-round facilities that operate 24/7 in Kodiak and on the Aleutian Islands.
A, B, and C shifts a shift pattern where a third of employees sleep while the rest are at work. Each shift lasts 16 1/2 hours.
The "A" shift runs from 4:00am to 8:30pm, with a meal break at 12:00pm. The "B" shift runs from 12:00pm to 4:30am, with a meal break at 8pm. The "C" shift runs from 8pm to 4:30am, with a meal break at 12:00pm. Rest breaks are every 4 hours. Cleanup usually occurs at a designated time each day.
This shift pattern is common for out-of-town facilities and those that almost exclusively process sockeye.
While two meal breaks are nice, they affect the number of hours you are on the clock, especially if each meal break is an hour long. This can affect your overtime.
With a main shift pattern, if you are scheduled from 7am to midnight, that is a 17-hour shift, but if you have two one-hour meal breaks, only 15 of those hours are on the clock. After work, you have only 7 hours to shower, sleep, wake up, and get ready before your next shift.
Compared to an A, B, and C shift pattern, if you work from 4am to 8:30pm with a 30-minute meal break, you are on the clock for 16 hours. Even better, you have 7 1/2 hours until your next shift, an extra 30 minutes to sleep.
In a week, those two one-hour meal breaks add up to 14 hours not on the clock but at work, compared to a single 30-minute meal break, which adds up to 3 1/2 hours. That is 11 1/2 fewer hours of overtime in a week, since any time worked beyond 8 hours counts as overtime.
Which shift pattern you prefer is your choice. With multiple meal breaks, especially if each is an hour long, you have a moment to relax, which can be helpful if you are older or out of shape. It also gives you a chance to make a quick phone call or use the Wi-Fi that everyone else is trying to access at the same time.
While four hours between breaks sounds intimidating, if you are at a station where you can zone out, the workday goes by faster, especially if you can train yourself not to watch the clock.
