The APWU Raises Alarms Over Postal Board Nominees

The assaults on the Postal Service’s public, independent operations continue, albeit in a more nefarious manner. The independent Postal Board of Governors (BOG) is responsible for making major decisions about the Postal Service’s operations and expenditures. They have the power to shape policies, fight mail slowdowns and Post Office closures, and defend and expand postal services, ensuring that the USPS remains committed to its universal service mandate.

With five appointments on the Board, President Trump is poised to fill them with nominees who are unfriendly to our priority of protecting and expanding the public Postal Service. In June, Trump nominated Anthony Lomangino and John LaValle to the Postal Board of Governors. Both nominees were scheduled to have hearings in the Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on July 24, but both were subsequently removed from the schedule. On Aug. 1, the President withdrew the nomination of John LaValle.

Lomangino’s nomination is deeply troubling to the APWU. First is the question of his ability to independently perform the duties of a postal governor. A sanitation executive, two of his companies were bought by Waste Management for more than $700 million, including one while David Steiner, the new Postmaster General, was the Waste Management CEO. Lomangino donated more than $8 million to Donald Trump’s campaign and raised $70 million more. A governor’s job is to hold postal management accountable for its performance and to “represent the public interest generally, ” and not be a rubber stamp for any president or PMG.

The APWU will continue to work with Senate offices to ensure that any nominee to the Board is qualified to serve as a postal governor and would not push for any type of postal privatization, service cuts, or
attacks on postal workers.