A binding arbitration ruling means union Plumbers in the Twin Cities will get 84 cents an hour more over the next three years for wages and benefits than contractors were offering.

Union Pipefitters will receive 50 cents an hour more over three years than what contractors had offered.

Two other Building Trades locals ? Sprinkler Fitters Local 417 and Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 ? also have settled new contracts, and members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 will vote June 9 on yet another proposal for residential work. A rundown:

Arbitration
The arbitration ruling, issued June 7, awards Plumbers Local 34 in St. Paul and Local 15 in Minneapolis increases of $2.16 an hour in 2005, $2.18 in 2006, and $2.22 in 2007. Local 34 business manager Stan Theis said members will vote June 14 on how to allocate the increase. Most of it, he said, will have to cover health-insurance costs.

Pipefitters Local 455 in St. Paul and Local 539 in Minneapolis will receive increases of $2.06 an hour this year, $2.06 in 2006, and $2.10 an hour in 2007. Jerry Barnes, business manager for Local 455, said members will vote on allocating the increase at the local's July 6 meeting. Barnes also said most of the increase will go to health insurance.

The unions and Minnesota Mechanical Contractors Association opted for arbitration through the Industrial Relations Council, rather than risk a strike. The arbitration hearing took place June 6 in Chicago, after members soundly rejected contractor proposals providing annual increases of $1.87, $1.90 and $1.95 an hour.

The Plumbers contracts cover about 3,250 members in 7 metro counties. The Pipefitters contracts cover about 2,400 members in 12 metro counties.

Sheet Metal Workers
Members will vote June 9 on a residential proposal with numbers identical to what they rejected twice before: $1.55, $1.60 and $1.70 an hour. The catch this time: a one-time signing bonus of $300.

"If this doesn?t get accepted, we'll go to binding arbitration," said Craig Sandberg, president and business manager of Local 10. Members had approved a commercial contract on May 7.

Sprinkler Fitters
Members ratified a three-year agreement on May 31 that provides general increases of $1.90, $1.95 and $2.05 an hour, and boosts foreman's pay an additional 45 cents an hour over the three years. The contract with the National Fire Sprinkler Association covers 430 members in Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington Counties.

Heat and Frost Insulators
Members ratified a three-year agreement on June 1 that provides general increases of $1.90, $2 and $2 an hour, and boosts foreman's scale an additional 45 cents in the first two years. The contract with the Thermal Insulation Contractors Association covers 375 members in roughly the southern half of Minnesota and nine counties in Wisconsin.

Sign, Screen and Display Local 880
Negotiations continue for a sign contract covering about 100 members in seven metro counties. "Basically, I told them to give us something we can vote on," said Paul Richards, business representative for Local 880. "We're to the point where everything is ironed out except for the compensation."

Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at advocate@mtn.org