The local U.S. Postal Service distribution center will not
move to Mobile, a U.S. Postal Service official said Friday.
The decision
means 280 area postal jobs will stay put, said Joseph Breckenridge, spokesman
for the Postal Service in Northwest Florida.
"We do not have any
intention of consolidating the operation in Pensacola with Mobile," said Joseph
Breckenridge, spokesman for the Postal Service in Northwest Florida. "We told
this to the city manager, who shared the information with the
mayor."
Last month, more than a dozen area postal workers picketed the
Downtown Station Post Office to protest a proposal that might have relocated the
Pensacola Plant and Distribution Center on Jordan Street to Mobile. Protesters
said any move would result in a delay in mail service and would cause Pensacola
to lose its own postmark, which is important in a tourism-driven town, they
said.
Now, they're breathing easier.
Apprehension grew in recent
years after U.S. Postal Service officials formulated a list of 139 distribution
facilities nationwide that would be considered if consolidation of facilities is
needed. The Pensacola plant was on the original list, which was released about
three years ago, Breckenridge said.
"Now, that list is down to about 20,"
he said, and includes only two Florida locations, neither of which is in
Northwest Florida.
John Olive, president of the Pensacola Area Local
American Postal Workers Union, said he hasn't seen the reduced list, but he said
is pleased to hear about it.
"If they've taken us off the list, then that
suits me," he said.
The 280 employees who work at the plant earn an
average of $40,000 to $45,000 each year, he said.
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