July 30, 2010
I learned last evening that my union brother Tim has died. We worked together at Metropolitan Petroleum in Chelsea until he was fired for trying to end that employer’s acting as an ally to BU, in the face of a strike by BU workers in April 1979. Tim was active in our Boston TDU chapter and wrote for our newspaper, The Hub. In 1984 Tim turned me on to a job vacancy at Lindenmeyr in South Boston where Tim was the steward. When that company moved to Canton the commute from Rockport was way beyond Tim’s liking (he used to commute to the Southie warehouse by train), so he pursued other work. In the early 90’s, I returned the favor and got Tim some driving work at Romanow in South Boston. It was last evening while reading The Spokesman on line (the Local 25 rag) that I saw a Timothy Costello/Romanow listed in the “In Memorium” column. I was hoping it was some other Tim Costello from decades earlier. But when I googled his obituary I was and am shocked and saddened by my union brother’s early passing. Tim has been well honored by all that’s written in these pages. There is so much more to write. My heartfelt condolences to his family.