WAGE DISAGREEMENT SHUTS DOWN SEMO REC CENTER PROJECT

A labor union's dispute with a painting subcontractor shut down a Southeast Missouri State University construction project Tuesday.

Workers in other trades walked off the job Tuesday morning after Painters Local Union 1292 picketed the construction site. Non-union painters remained on the job.

A lone picket carrying a white AFL-CIO umbrella paraded near the entrance to the Show Me Center Tuesday morning.

University officials said they hope the dispute will be resolved quickly so work can proceed on expansion of the Student Recreation Center. The building adjoins the Show Me Center. The project is supposed to be finished prior to the start of the fall semester.

Leon Lefler, field representative and organizer for District No. 2 of the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, said the union suspects that Jerry Hotop Painting isn't paying the prevailing wage on the construction job. The labor union had picketed Hotop Painting at other construction jobs in Southeast Missouri.'

"They have a pattern of paying a substandard wage," said Lefler.

But Jerry Hotop, who owns the Perryville painting company, said the company is paying its painters the prevailing wage as required by state law.

Any local government or state institution or agency must pay the prevailing wage for construction work in a particular region as set by the Missouri Division of Labor Standards.

Contractors don't have to use union labor.

Both Hotop and Lefler agreed that the state-required hourly wage for painters on public-works projects in this area is $14.55. Coupled with benefits, the total compensation amounts to $19.09 an hour, Hotop said.

Lefler said the painters should be paid $19.23 an hour, including benefits.

Lefler, whose local union office is in Cape Girardeau, said he was in the process of filing a wage complaint with the state.

Hotop, who insists he is following the law, was in the painters union for 20 years. He left the union after becoming disillusioned with the organization's operations. Today, he runs a non-union shop.

Hotop said he doesn't want to see the university's construction project harmed.

"It is a shame. We didn't go down there to run people off," said Hotop, who has been in the painting business for 32 years.

Hotop said he has three painters working on the university project. He said some of the other construction work on the project also has been done by non-union businesses.

Hotop's firm is one of the subcontractors hired by Kiefner Brothers as part of the $1.68 million general contract. That work includes flooring, wall covering and other interior work. It doesn't include mechanical, electrical or plumbing work.

Kiefner Brothers is one of six prime contractors on the $5.3 million project. The contractors in turn subcontract some of the work to firms such as Hotop's.

Al Stoverink, facilities management director for Southeast, said his office and Sverdrup, a construction management firm, closely monitor the project.

"Before we will make a payment on a pay request, payrolls have to be submitted on every individual who has worked on the job," said Stoverink. He said it is up to the prime contractors like Kiefner to see that subcontractors pay the prevailing wage.

"There is no question that prevailing wages will be paid. If we find they are not paid, then we will withhold contract payments," said Stoverink.

He said he doesn't understand why carpenters, electricians and other trades people walked off the job since the picket was set up for informational purposes.

Stoverink said he expects at least some if not all of the construction workers to return to their jobs today.

The university, he said, is committed to paying the prevailing wage. "I think our track record in that regard will certainly back that up," said Stoverink.