President Obama is celebrating Labor Day in Detroit, previewing his ideas for job creation and economic growth at a rally with thousands of supportive labor union members.

Obama's speech at an annual event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO was serving as a dress rehearsal for the jobs address he'll deliver to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night.

The president's appearance follows last Friday's dismal jobs report, which showed that employers added no jobs in August. It was the first time since 1945 that the government reported a net job change of zero. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, held steady at 9.1 percent.

The disappointing report sparked new fears of a second recession and injected fresh urgency into efforts by Obama to help get millions of unemployed people back into the labor market -- and help improve his chances of getting re-elected.

Every month, Thomas Villanova gets a $9,000 reminder of how lucrative it can be to serve as a union leader in Chicago.

The sum is part of a city pension that comes on top of the $198,000 annual salary he is paid to represent the interests of thousands of city workers.

Villanova last worked for the city in 1989 as an electrical mechanic with the Department of Streets and Sanitation, making about $40,000 a year. Yet in 2008 he was allowed to retire at age 56 with a $108,000 city pension. That's because, under a little-known state law, his pension was based not on his city paycheck but on his much higher union salary.

This kind of deal is available only to union officials who meet certain requirements, but a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation has uncovered documents that show Villanova violated state law when he applied for the pension and cast doubt on whether he truly qualifies for all that money.

Ground Zero hardhats are hitting the hard stuff at lunch -- guzzling beers and shots at nearby bars before stumbling back to their dangerous jobs on the hallowed site, The New York Post has learned.

With cost overruns crossing the $2 billion mark and the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, some reckless workers were seen on midday breaks last week filling their bellies with enough booze to become legally drunk.

The men then stumbled back to the site, where workers have reached the 78th floor of 1 World Trade Center as they attempt to build a virtually indestructible skyscraper.

Construction is now in a delicate phase that demands clear-headed concentration, with crews ascending to the upper floors of the 1,776-foot Tower 1 and 947-foot Tower 4 as part of a furious, round-the-clock schedule to complete four buildings, a transit hub and a memorial.

Ground Zero hardhats are hitting the hard stuff at lunch -- guzzling beers and shots at nearby bars before stumbling back to their dangerous jobs on the hallowed site, The Post has learned.

With cost overruns crossing the $2 billion mark and the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, some reckless workers were seen on midday breaks last week filling their bellies with enough booze to become legally drunk.

The men then stumbled back to the site, where workers have reached the 78th floor of 1 World Trade Center as they attempt to build a virtually indestructible skyscraper.

Newly created ACORN front groups across America have signed on to SEIU’s economic terrorism and sabotage campaign. ACORN, long associated with President Obama, is participating in the disruptive campaign through its newly renamed state chapters. Mortgage and student loan strikes, crippling bank boycotts, intimidation, and who knows what else are all on the agenda.

The chief psychiatrist for California’s overcrowded prison system was paid $838,706 in 2010, more than any other state employee that year, payroll figures released today show.

The doctor, whose name wasn’t released, had a salary range of $261,408 to $308,640, according to data released today by California Controller John Chiang. The total compensation was raised by bonuses or payout of unused vacation time, according to the controller’s office.

The figures show that the 10 highest-paid state employees each earned more than $500,000 in 2010, for a total of $6.2 million. All but three were doctors or dentists for the Corrections Department. Joe Dear, the chief investment officer at the California Public Employees Retirement System, ranked seventh with a gross pay of $548,142, the data show.

The nation's largest education union has endorsed President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

Members of the National Education Association voted to support Obama on Monday at their annual convention in Chicago.

In a statement, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel says Obama and the union share a vision and members wanted early and strong support to help his election.

The endorsement comes a day after Vice President Joe Biden addressed thousands of educators at the convention. The association has 3.2 million members and bills itself as the largest labor union nationwide.

"This is a disaster," said Mark Miller, the Wisconsin Senate Democratic leader, in February after Republican Gov. Scott Walker proposed a budget bill that would curtail the collective bargaining powers of some public employees. Miller predicted catastrophe if the bill were to become law -- a charge repeated thousands of times by his fellow Democrats, union officials, and protesters in the streets.

Now the bill is law, and we have some very early evidence of how it is working. And for one beleaguered Wisconsin school district, it's a godsend, not a disaster.

The Kaukauna School District, in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin near Appleton, has about 4,200 students and about 400 employees. It has struggled in recent times and this year faced a deficit of $400,000. But after the law went into effect,

Acting with unusual speed, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated Gov. Scott Walker's plan to all but end collective bargaining for tens of thousands of public workers.

The court found a committee of lawmakers was not subject to the state's open meetings law, and so did not violate that law when they hastily approved the measure and made it possible for the Senate to take it up. In doing so, the Supreme Court overruled a Dane County judge who had struck down the legislation, ending one challenge to the law even as new challenges are likely to emerge.

The majority opinion was by Justices Michael Gableman, David Prosser, Patience Roggensack and Annette Ziegler. The other three justices - Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and N. Patrick Crooks - concurred in part and dissented in part.

One of California's largest labor unions today advanced a plan intended to result in the election of more moderate Republicans.

By creating a Republican political action committee, Service Employees International Union California officials say they hope to help send people from right-leaning areas to Sacramento who put practical solutions in front of strict conservative thinking.

"Our legislators are harangued by radio talk show hosts like John and Ken and D.C. ideologues like Grover Norquist," said Bob Schoonover, president of SEIU Local 721 in Southern California.
Schoonover, a registered Republican, said lawmakers are afraid to do the right thing.

"We've lost the art of compromise that allows us to make deals in tough times," he said.

Union 'zombies' disrupt Special Olympics ceremony.

The media campaign to deny the reality of the move towards a North American Union in the mold of the European Union, which would encompass a merging of the economies of The US, Canada and Mexico, continues with a sharp focus on attacking presidential cand

A federal judge has refused to dismiss criminal charges against a union representative accused of protecting undocumented workers at the Marshalltown Swift meatpacking plant. U.S. District Judge Ronald Longstaff, however, also ruled Friday that Braulio Pe

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's appearance at the New York City based Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) on 25 September 2007, was an official endorsement and expression of solidarity on the North American Union agenda. Harvard University educated CNN Vet

At an April 12, 1883 talk at the Twilight Club in New York City, former NEW YORK TIMES editorial page editor John Swinton revealed: "We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumpingjacks; they pull the strings and we dance. O