A labor dispute has slowed work on the Otto and Della Seabaugh Polytechnic Building at Southeast Missouri State University.

With Operating Engineers Local 513 picketing the site over a labor dispute with Kenneth Foeste Masonry of Cape Girardeau, most of the construction workers on the project remained off the job Thursday.

The picketing prompted Foeste to file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in St. Louis. It alleges that the Operating Engineers have conducted an unlawful picket.

The board has 72 hours to make a ruling, said Judy Foeste, one of the owners of the masonry construction firm.

About 32 construction workers from various trades have been working on the project. But Thursday, only seven workers crossed the picket line.

Operating Engineers Local 513 officials said they haven't asked workers represented by other unions to stay off the job.

But Al Stoverink, Southeast's facilities management director, said that is exactly what happened.

"We just don't want this to fester and extend on out," he said. "I'm expecting people to be back on the job tomorrow. It's not something we can allow to continue."

Foeste refused to disclose the specifics of the labor dispute.

But Ron Gladney, a St. Louis lawyer who represents the Operating Engineers, said the union doesn't believe Foeste is paying the prevailing wage to its workers who are operating construction equipment.

Gladney said the state prevailing wage for a construction equipment operator on a public works projects in this area is $31.99 an hour. He said Foeste may be paying $8 an hour less than the prevailing wage. The prevailing wage for a particular trade or craft is set by the Missouri Division of Labor.

Gladney said the union began picketing the site after looking over payroll records for the project.

"All we want is proof that satisfies us that they are paying the wage rate for operating engineer work, whoever does it on that job and other jobs in Cape Girardeau," he said.

Stoverink said the issue is a jurisdictional dispute over whether the work should be done by a laborer or an operating engineer.

Foeste is being paid $356,650 to do the masonry work on the project. The masonry contractor has been working on the job site for about a month, Stoverink said.

Stoverink said the university and the school's construction management company regularly review payment requests from contractors to make sure they are complying with the prevailing wage law.

Stoverink said the university and the construction manager haven't detected any wage problems.

The polytechnic building is well under construction with nearly 98 percent of the structural steel framework in place. The building is going up on a site adjacent to the science buildings on the north part of the campus.

Concrete floors on the second and third levels have been poured.

Members of the Operating Engineers union wanted to picket close to the construction site, but Gladney said campus police required them to move their picket line to the New Madrid and Henderson streets intersection.

Gladney said the union members complied. "Our advice to the pickets is, let's not create a hassle with the university." But he questioned how a public university can prohibit people from picketing on their property.

"We believe that as long as we are not blocking people or creating a safety hazard we have the right to picket as close to our job site as we want to," said Gladney.

Stoverink said the university has required pickets in other labor disputes in the past to confine their actions to areas along public rights of way.