By Kevin Clerici, kclerici@VenturaCountyStar.com
October 28, 2006

An Oxnard mail processing and distribution center on a federal list for possible consolidation is not being reviewed and is in no threat of closure, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman said Friday.

"The Postal Service currently is reviewing about a dozen processing operations in the nation, none of which are in the Southern California area," spokesman Richard Maher said.

Maher's comments come a day after members of a local American Postal Workers union picketed outside Oxnard's main post office.

Union leaders are worried the Oxnard center could be consolidated with little public notice, displacing some 300 employees and affecting local mail delivery.

Maher said that if the Oxnard center were to be reviewed, city elected officials would be notified as well as congressional representatives. Each review includes a public input process, he said.

Maher also disputed a statement made Thursday by local postal union leaders that a federal injunction to halt plant consolidations had been secured. No action, he said, has been taken by a federal court on those injunction requests.

With more people paying bills and communicating online, the Postal Service has experienced a decline in volume of stamped, first-class mail, he said, although overall mail volumes remain strong.

To continue operating efficiently, the Postal Service came up with a list of 139 mail processing operations nationwide it might consider for consolidation in the future, he said.

"Some of the facilities on the list have been reviewed, others may never be," he said. "This list is not a list of operations targeted for consolidation."