Twice within the past week, Washington political professionals have told me that the election is all about “change.” The electorate is fed up with the partisan warfare that defines politics as we know it today.

The victor in the presidential race will be the candidate who convinces voters that he’ll “fix” Washington. But one area where change is unlikely to occur—no matter who wins—is in labor-management politics.

The fault lines in that area have been basically immutable since the Depression-era New Deal. Generally, Democrats favor strengthening unions and taking a muscular approach to making business respond to the demands of workers so that they can get their fair share of the profits.

By and large, Republicans want to keep labor rules to a minimum, almost always taking the side of management and arguing that less regulation leads to stronger growth and higher-paying jobs.

If the presumptive presidential nominees, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, really want to demonstrate that they are change agents, they will propose ways to bring business and workers together on “economic security” issues, another buzz phrase in this year’s election.

Based on two events this week, however, it looks as if we’re a long way from comity on labor-management policy.

First, there was a hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee regarding a GAO study about the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The GAO found that enforcement of fair pay has declined during the Bush administration.

It was clear during the hearing that Democrats care about passionately about this issue. They want the Department of Labor to be tougher in going after alleged scofflaw businesses that engage in “wage theft,” as they call it.

“I don’t find this acceptable, that people work and aren’t paid,” Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-New Hampshire, said to Alexander Passantino, acting administrator of the agency. “I’d like to see that outrage on your part.”

Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Labor Committee, presided over the two-hour, 15-minute hearing. The way a hearing works is that witnesses give five-minute opening statements. Then each member of Congress in attendance gets five minutes of questions.

The wage and hour hearing consisted of two panels of witnesses. Miller conducted three rounds of questions, going solo on the final queries. He was highly engaged.

So were his Democratic colleagues. During the hearing, the highest number of Republicans in attendance was three. A total of 12 Democrats showed up. Not only was Republican attendance low, but the GOP didn’t invite a witness. Usually the minority party gets to have one witness at a hearing, typically someone who bats down Democratic accusations.

Perhaps it was a sign that Republicans find disputes over labor policy to be futile. They defended the Wage and Hour Division, highlighting the fact that it has recovered $1.25 billion in back wages for nearly 2 million workers during the Bush administration.

Miller, however, was exercised over GAO findings that the division does a shoddy job of investigating potential violations. He got into a sharp exchange with Passantino about the standards it sets for responding to complaints, at one point lamenting, “How the hell can that be equal treatment?”

And he wasn’t impressed by the $1.25 billion recovery figure. If the Wage and Hour Division would improve its performance, “maybe it would have been $2 billion,” he said.

He vowed to continue the review of the agency and next year to propose ways to increase the use of civil monetary penalties.

Later in the week, Democrats came out swinging again. This time it was in support of a pay discrimination bill that has been stalled in the Senate. Some of the top women leaders on Capitol Hill stoked a rally designed to inspire supporters to demand that the Senate vote again this year.

It was a political rally, so you wouldn’t expect any temporizing. Even at that, the bill’s backers were in no mood to compromise with Republicans who have offered an alternative measure.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland, lived up to her reputation as a fighter.

“You’ve got to be riled up. You’ve got to be revved up,” she exhorted a crowd of mostly young women. Then she suggested what they say when they call and write to Senate offices: “Do the real deal. Don’t support the decoy bills.”

Middle ground on labor-management policy will be hard to find.