Local 3 California’s Manny Sears Can’t Say “No” to Union Service

Local 3 California Vice President Manuel “Manny” Sears had already put together an impressive union service career when he retired in 1993. But duty called, and in 2004, he was elected as Vice President and a member of the Local’s Management Committee.

Brother Sears was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on October 17, 1929 – one week before the infamous stock market crash. At the age of four his father died. His mother struggled to make ends meet, and to help out he worked as a shoe shine boy and shoe salesman. An earlier eye injury would eventually keep him out of the military.

At 17, Sears moved to California and graduated from high school. After looking unsuccessfully for a craft job, he went to work in a foundry for a dollar an hour, which increased to $1.70 after he and his fellow workers organized the shop. He was fired a month later.

A friend who was a tile setter asked him to help out on a job. He agreed, and in 1956 joined the Tile, Marble, Terrazzo and Shopworkers & Granite Cutters International Union. He attended local union meetings, and after four years, was elected to the negotiation board. According to Sears, “This is when I got a real feel of what the union was all about.”

Sears was head of the Oakland local when the TMT Helpers, members of yet another international, joined in the 1970’s. Sears became increasingly active in apprenticeship and training matters, serving as a trustee, coordinator, and instructor with the Finishers’ JATC.

Soon after he was elected as an International Field Representative in 1988, however, the TMT Shopworkers & Granite Cutters forced a merger with the Carpenters. Sears refused, and in 1989 brought his local into BAC.

In addition to his current Management Committee duties, Brother Sears serves on Local 3’s Negotiating Committee, where he is proud of his work to restore full health and welfare benefits for finishers and their families.

Is there another retirement in Manny’s future? “My hope is not for a long, long time,” says Local 3 President Jim Bresnahan.