i'm jim angle in for bret baier. on labor day, president obama gave auto workers in detroit a preview of thursday's jobs speech to congress. while union leaders laid out views of their own. wendell goler has the story. >> reporter: the union leaders made their views quite clear. on the job hungry labor day, in a state built by big labor, they called on lawmakers to put aside party differences and put workers on the job rebuilding roads and bridges. >> there is work to be done and workers ready to do it. labor is on board. >> in myrtle beach, different suggestion from rick perry. >> if this president wants a jobs speech this week. let me tell you what he needs to do, he needs to stand up and say we are going to repeal obamacare. >> on this day, bipartisan was not on display. jim hoffa junior accused tea party wages war on workers. >> let's take sonofabitchs out and give america back to america, where we belong. thank you very much. >> tea party contender herman cain shrugged off the name-calling. >> that's all they have to intimidate folks. he mentioned working people. tea party people work, too. >> in michigan with 11% jobless rate, both men are preaching to the choir. but as far as big labor is concerned it's a changing choir. union members are likely to be public sector workers like teachers and police officers than auto workers or in the private sector. across the country, 200,000 lost their jobs last year in wisconsin and ohio, public sector workers lost the collective bargaining rights. >> this is not about economics. it's about politics. i want everybody to know as long as i'm in the white house i'll stand up for collective bargaining. >> in 2008, candidate obama promised to march with public sector workers if necessary to defend the rights. he hasn't yet but he did give states federal aid to help us out of the recession. >> thank you, wendell. handful of 2012 republican presidential hopefuls were in conservative south carolina for a forum sponsoreded by jim demint today. one contender had to leigh early but offered parting shots answered in kind. >> chieve political correspondent carl cameron surveys the field from columbia. >> most of the presidential candidates are here for a forum that began this afternoon. earlier today, hay had to pull the plug and cancel unscheduled conflict. he had to go back to texas as the governor to deal with wildfires raging across the state. >> our state has wildfires that are running wild and zero containment right now. >> but before leaving, he singled out mitt romney for labor day criticism on jobs. >> there is one in particular that created jobs all over the world. but while he was governor of massachusetts he didn't create jobs. >> we cannot choose a nominee, let me put it that way, that is going to blur the lines between this president and our nominee. >> but he is tweeting right back as perry is too hard on security and short on the private sector experience as a career politician. >> i know something about building and turning things around. >> i spent my life in the private sector, solving real problems. >> perry makes no apologies for opposing a complete u.s. -mexico border fence and criticizing social security. >> i call at it ponzi scheme, moner thous lie. i don't believe in building a wall. >> michele bachmann seized on perry's absence to tout herself as a pro-growth conservative. >> i would change the corporate tax rate that is the highest in the world. >> each candidate got 20 minutes the forum. >> we need to inform and educate the american public so they can embrace and understand the paradigm shift from tax on income to tax on consumption. >> i'm for more revenue through american energy policy but against raising taxes. >> freedom is not the issue. tyranny and big government. >> romney accelerated the labor day campaign surge hoping to slow the momentum spoke last. >> the reason we're struggling economically is washington is too aertive. too big and demanding on the lives of the american people we have to rein back government. >> jon huntsman skipped the south carolina forum and stumped in new hampshire as did sarah palin. palin has not said whether she plans to run for president but a recent fox news opinion poll said two-third of the self-described tea party parties said she shouldn't run, she urged the tea partiers to ignore the media and ignore the decisive criticism and unite because they and she have a lot of work still to do. >> carl, thanks. safe travels. >> you may have heard fox news and goog are teaming up with the florida republican party to host the g.o.p. presidential debate on september 22. you will be able to participate with a question, comment or vote going to youtube/foxnews. we will tally your votes to help choose which questions are posed to the candidates. so get engaged in the debate and take this opportunity to talk directly to the candidat candidates. it's quite a partnership you will see only on fox on september 22. those wildfires that carl mentioned earlier destroyed about 300 homes. scorched more than 17,500 acres near austin, texas. officials say firefighters have been unable to begin containing the blaze. crews were able to distinguish another fire in east texas that killed a woman and her 18-month-old daughter. forecasters say a weaker tropical storm lee could pose threat to inland in the south. flash flood and warnings in effect from mississippi valley to the florida panhandle and the southern appalachians. lee dumped a foot of rain in new orleans before weakening to a tropical depression sunday night. the uaw and big three u.s. auto makers are heading to the time contract negotiations, with just over a week to go. correspondent doug mckelway explains which one has the most to lose. >> the president struck optimistic tone at the labor day union rally. >> we stood by the auto industry and now the big three are turning a profit. hiring new workers. building the best cars in the world in detroit. >> this contrasted sharply with a threat to ford. ford uaw workers are leaning heavy to a national strike against nation. in some union halls reporting 97% of the rank and file vote to authorize the strike. >> i'd like to get a raise. we haven't had a raise for a long time. but analysts say the strike authorization is not a threat as ill appears to be. >> it's part of thegoneing regulations. it depends, go to the membership and ask, are we willing to strike in this contract. it's one of the union weapons, really, at the table. if we don't agree, we can strike. uaw is on ducting contract negotiation with all of the big three, since the bail-out. ford is the only auto maker that can be struck, g.m. and chrysler as part of the deal agree issues left unresolved in the contract negotiations must go to binding arbitration. with unemployment at 9.1 p.c. and higher still in detroit, the likelihood of the uaw president bob king pushing for a strike with more workers is remote. >> there is nobody in general motors or chrysler or ford with more of a long-term vested interest in success of the corporation than our membership. >> bob king has two things he is trying to do. >> the strieb to ford would send the wrong message. secondly he has obama reelection campaign. obama was good to the auto workers in general in 2009 and strike would be thumb in the eye. >> the uaw strike authorization against ford pertains only to the national bargaining issue. it does not preclude them striking over local issues and history has shown local strikes can be as paralyzing to production lean as a national one. jim? >> thank you, doug. tough times for postal service may get worse. major challenge to healthcare law leaving the obama the u.s. postal service prides itself that neither rain nor sleep nor slow will deter it from the rounds of delivering the mail. what about insolvency? national correspondent steve centanni says that's what they face. >> they decide to default on payment due september 30 to avoid eeventualual shutdown and pay $9 billion in debt. this is result of the rising cost and declining volume as internet replaces old fashioned snail mail. the post office spokesman tells fox news to return to profitability, the postal service needs to reduce the carrier workforce by 220,000 by 2015. but cannot do so in tomorrows of existing collective bargaining agreement. the postal service wants the okay from congress to renegotiate the agreements. but delaware senator tom carper says there is a better way. >> rather lay them off or throw them under the bus. what i would suggest is insent vise to take retirement. >> finding a way to cut the workforce is not all the post office wants from congress. it wants to stop paying $5.5 billion in advanced payment each year for retirement health ben grit. to get back 6.9 billion in the overpayment and begin five-day mail delivery. the postal unions are worried about this and one is going after republican congressman darrell issa of california, how oversight committee chairman. a website explains issa proposal to create postal oversight board with power to cut cost and renegotiate contrast. union statement says, "representative darrell issa who likes to portray himself as fierce opponent of wasting taxpayers' money has created a slick, high-tech website that bashes the postal service using you guessed it, taxpayers money." a senate committee will hear the issues tomorrow. searching for ways to keep internet nation from devouring an institution as old as america itself in washington, steve centanni, fox news. >> new challenge to the healthcare law puts the obama administration in sticky position. not only because of the 2012 campaign but because both sides consider a loss to be a game-changer. the obama administration has a key legal and political dilemma. what to do about the recent decision about the federal appeals court which ruled that forcing people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. many democrats think the white house will try to delay the supreme court consideration as long as possible. >> my expectation is they will do whatever they can to slow this so it does not get to the supreme court where possibly the individual mandate could be struck down, which would be damaging for the administration. >> we saw the legislative deaf cullty of getting it through. now we are going to see the legal difficulty. >> even the president seems to concede that concern but expresses confidence that the court will back him up. >> it should be upheld without a problem. if the supreme court does not follow existing law and precedent, then, you know, we have to manage that when it happens. >> the judges on the federal appeals court including a clinton appointee took a different rule of precedent and ruled the law unconstitutional. those challenging the law says it will cost billions to implement and the country deserves to know the outcome of the debate as soon as possible. >> the statute is unconstitutional. we could save a year of wasted effort trying to implement it. if the statute is constitutional. then there is no problem with knowing that sooner rather than later. >> oddly enough, the president embraces the argument critics make that the healthcare law can't work without the individual mandate. >> you can't not have health insurance. then go to the emergency room. and each of us who have done the responsible thing and have had health insurance suddenly we now have to pay premiums for you. not fair. >> but the legal decision said it's not fair to force americans to buy any product, including health insurance. >> that would be a major blow in the middle of the campaign season where they would have to relitigate the healthcare debate in a way they don't want to. >> that may well be something that mr. obama wants to avoid because it diverts attention from jobs and the economy. the issue he is vulnerable and trying to focus attention. labor day focus on jobs later. but first, capture of major al-qaeda suspect. this time a long-time checking international headlines. libyan rebels surrounded one of the last strongholds of support from muammar gaddafi. some key officials are believed to be hiding there and perhaps even gaddafi himself. meanwhile, venezuela president hugo chavez says he believes his ally gaddafi won't leave libya no matter what. some reports suggested that gaddafi could seek asylum in venezuela. syrian troops raided homes and made arrest in a manhunt for an attorney general who defected from bashar assad's regime. amateur video today showed what appeared to be heavy gunfire and armored vehicles in the central syrian city of homes. security forces today killed at least one person near the turkish border. pakistani intelligence officers working with the c.i.a. arrested three members of al-qaeda. one of them was a top operative that usama bin laden reportedly tasked with targeting american economic interests around the world. the national security correspondent jennifer griffin has details. >> reporter: less than a week before the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and after months of tension with the c.i.a., the pakistani government announce today it had arrested one of al-qaeda's most senior operatives. he had been handling a german terror cell broken up last year and charged by bin laden with targeting u.s. gas and oil pipelines. by using explosive speedboat in international waters a technique first used by usama bin laden on the uss cole. they announced a u.s. drone strike in the tribal areas killed al-qaeda number two. a libyan that served as al-zawahiri's deputy. a state fire department a senior u.s. official confirmed the recent arrest in western pakistan near quetta. pakistan's capture is another major blow to al-qaeda. he is a seasoned senior operative trusted by the top leaders and he played a central role in planning and coordinating the al-qaeda operation in europe. plus, targeted european and american interests. the ambassador issued the following statement -- >> team seising the new cooperation suggests end to tension in wake of the bin laden raid. the white house secretary press secretary added "we applaud the action of pakistan intelligence and security services that led to the capture of a senior al-qaeda operative involved in planning attacks against the interest of the united states and many other countries." >> the pentagon under-secretary vickers said there were four top al-qaeda leaders left in pakistan. today, there is one left. jim? >> thank you, jennifer. >> european markets took a beating today on fears that friday's jobs report here in the u.s. could mean a double dip recession. stocks in great britain shed 3.6%. markets in germany slumped a whopping 5.3%. france suffered a 4.7% drop. coming up, bret baier leads extented labor day edition panel on jobs and the economy. thanks to the venture card from capital one, we get double miles on every purchase, so me and the boys earned a trip to dc twice as fast! oh hi! we get double miles every time we use our card. and since double miles add fast... one more chariot please. ...we can bring the whole gang! i cannot tell a lie. he did it. right... it's hard to beat dole miles! read mlips -- no new axes! [ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one, and earn double miles on every purchase, every day. go to capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? so, you're a docrat right? on a day when we pay tribute to the economic and social contributions of our nation's workers, bret baier sits down with a special labor day panel. >> thank you, jim. we're on special labor day report. we'll spend half an hour talking about jobs, the economy and what lies ahead. we have a special panel tonight. raffle slader is the chairman and ceo of management consulting technology firm booze hamelton in washington. and we also have the -- [ inaudible ] casey is the owner of a high-ind consignment buteague in washington. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. let's begin with the congressional budget office came out with a projection of the economy going forward. not a pretty picture. look at the head of the ceo and talk about the economy and where it affects you and the businesses. >> the look at the unemployment rate forecast you see a similar pattern, tremendous amount of extra unemployment, over the past few years. by a tremendous amount is still to come. greatest pain of the economic downturn is ahead of us. >> the congressional budget office forecast unemployment above 8% until 2014. the economic growth in the u.s. to remain week for several years. this comes after the gross domestic product over recent quarters slowed. it's been anemic. 1.3% this last quarter and priest quarter revised to .4%. dr. slader, let he start with you. you are in charge of a large company that went public in november 2010. a consulting firm, strategy and technology. revenue $5.6 billion in 2010. $5 billion in 2009. $25,000 employees. how is, how do you see the economy from where you sit right now? >> the united states government is the primary client. so when we look at the economy, we look at it very much through the lens of what the united states got is doing. right now, we are doing well. our company is growing. grown for the last several years. and it continues to grow. we do important work. our work helps the clients solve problems. to protect our soldiers on the battlefield. cyber security. a lot of demand for the work we do. we are impacted by what is going on with the economy. primarily because of how the cycle changed in normal cycle, budget would be approved by first of october, beginning of the fiscal year and everybody with government agencies would have the full knowledge of what the budgets would be and how they operate. as we have gotten in the gridlock of the last few year years, we operate you should a continuing resolution and that does not provide a client base of people we work for understanding of how much money is available to them in the course of the year. they have to keep waiting and that's longer and longer. >> that of courses your bottom line. >> we have to hang in abeyance for what the final answer will be. that creates uncertainty. serve convinced and knowledgeable about the fact that uncertainty is one of the greatest drags on the economy right now. >> you have general contracting firm and you do work with the government as well. family-owned company. as you see the numbers on the screen. big revenue in the last few years. 712 employees. similar take to dr. schraeder? >> no question. >> the biggest private sector client. wetch didn't relate to both. >> we were talking out back. >> we purposefully sat you next to each other. >> we function private sector. in 2008, everybody can relate to construction cycle the turndown in construction what it has done, you know, the construction economy. it's down 22 to 25% depending whether you are in residential or commercial, over that time frame. there has been a few spots where it's rebounding. particularly locally. due to the federal government. flat economy for construction. probably going to remain that way until the unemployment situation turns around. certainly if the unemployment is not going down, people aren't hiring. not new need for new space. >> you own a consignment store. two stores? how many employees do you have? >> i around 16 employees. no, i only have one store. it's downtown d.c. my business is good. sorry. business is really good. it's gone up every single year except one. it's just the nature of my business. people are more interested in recycling. people are more interested in getting more money for their items. they want to make their dollar go further. for these reasons, i have no downturn in my business. except for one first year in the gulf war but i've gone up 10 to 20% every year. >> have you added employees? >> i keep it consistent. i keep it consistent. people who work for m