America Strikes Back at Pirates … with Unions!!

Remember how a union flight crew, union ferry crews, and union first-responders pulled off the incredible rescue back in January? Those union employees had gotten a lot of their safety training because of their union.

Well, those darn unions are at it with the heroics again. This time, it’s in vanquishing pirates.

American crew members aboard a U.S.-flagged ship have regained control of the vessel hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia Wednesday, FOX News confirms.

Defense Department officials confirmed that one pirate is in custody. A U.S. official said the status of the other pirates is unknown but they were reported to "be in the water."

"All the crew members are trained in security detail in how to deal with piracy," Maersk CEO John Reinhart told reporters. "As merchant vessels we do not carry arms. We have ways to push back, but we do not carry arms."

[snip]

At least 12 of the Americans aboard the Maersk Alabama are members of the Seafarers International Union, spokesman Jordan Biscardo said.

I had dinner one night last year with members of the SIU; they told me that ships sailing under US flags are the union crews. And as MoJo has confirmed, it appears that union membership is a big part of the reason these men were able to retake their ship.

And as I just heard on Fox News (and confirmed with the SIU), crew members of the Maersk Alabama received anti-piracy training from (where else?) their union.

If this serial heroism keeps up, businesses are going to be clamoring for unions to keep their operations safe. 

Typo fixed per wohjr.