If those aforementioned lines of communication are open, a new survey sponsored by the AFL-CIO suggests there’s a lot of static in the connection. That spirit of compromise has a ghostly pallor.

The telephone survey, conducted in July by Hart Research, polled 1,792 workers, including 320 union members, and found the bond of loyalty between employer and employee is strained. Some 56 percent of the workers polled said their trust that they will be treated fairly on the job is waning. Add the slowing economy to existing concerns about downsizing and globalization, and the work force is worried.

Just as troubling is that the survey results, when broken down by race and gender, reveal that the demographic groups who’ve been told they’re catching up don’t see it that way. Nearly 80 percent of African-American workers polled cited unfair treatment on the job as a persistent problem. Three-fourths of women said the “glass ceiling” still prevents advancement, half said equal pay for equal work remains theoretical.

As for the reaction to this survey by spokesmen for labor and management, existing stereotypes might suggest that labor would respond with bluster, while management would be calm and thoughtful. Shows how wrong stereotypes can be.

AFL-CIO President calmly and thoughtfully observed that the survey findings show Americans “at a real crossroads. Working families remain optimistic and hopeful in many ways, but they are very concerned about what’s happening to them on the job.”

Then there’s the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Randy Johnson, the chamber’s vice president for labor and employee benefits, dismissed the survey as a mere organizing device for the labor movement and as “evidence of the lack of union organizing gains.” That quick dismissal should give the chamber plenty to time to focus upon the real work at hand – convincing Congress that labor laws must be reformed to allow greater flexibility for work schedules and pay structures, and, once more jobs with irregular hours and low pay are in place, to allow more immigrants to fill those jobs. No room on that agenda, apparently, for communication and compromise.