Charles Ensley

From Bhamwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Charles Ensley (born c. 1940 in Birmingham; died June 18, 2010 in New York, New York) was president of the Social Service Employees Union Local 371 in New York for 26 years.

Ensley was the youngest of four children of John Ensley, a Birmingham News employee who led a campaign for equal pay for African-American workers during the 1950s. He graduated from Parker High School and then attended Howard University in Washington D.C. He and his wife, Annette, moved to New York in 1965 where he took a job as a caseworker for the Bureau of Child Welfare.

Ensley was elected president of Local 371 in 1982 and worked for democratic elections and transparent finances. Under his leadership, union rolls expanded from 9,000 to 17,000 members. He capped his own salary not to exceed that of the union's best-paid members, and was one of the few union bosses left unscathed by a massive municipal scandal that resulted in 20 indictments in 1999. He ran unsuccessfully for District Council 37 in 2003 and retired in 2008.

Ensley died of lung cancer in 2010. At his direction, no funeral was held.

References

  • "Charles Ensley" obituary (June 22, 2010) The New York Times
  • Robbins, Tom (June 22, 2010) "Charles Ensley, 69, City Labor Leader, Unmourned by the Dailies, But That Figures." The Village Voice