US government shutdown forces some overseas bases to stop paying workers

MADRID AP The longest U S administration shutdown on record is doing more than grind sessions to a halt at home an ocean away in Europe local workers at U S military bases have started to feel the pain At least people working at overseas bases in Europe have had their salaries interrupted since the shutdown began almost six weeks ago In several cases governments hosting the U S bases have stepped in to foot the bill expecting the United States to eventually make good In others including in Italy and Portugal workers have only kept working unpaid as the gridlock in Washington drags on It s an absurd situation because nobody has responses nobody feels responsible declared Angelo Zaccaria a union coordinator at the Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy This is having dramatic effects on us Italian workers he advised The Associated Press An array of needed jobs The jobs foreign nationals do at U S bases around the world range from food arrangement construction logistics maintenance and other more specialized roles In selected cases foreign workers are employed by private companies contracted by the U S administration while others are direct hires How local employees are paid varies by country and is based on specific agreements the U S leadership has with each host nation noted Amber Kelly-Herard a population affairs spokesperson for the U S Air Forces in Europe and Africa During the shutdown Kelly-Herard stated local employees were expected to continue to perform their jobs in accordance with their work contracts The AP reached out to the Pentagon with multiple questions on the pay disruption but was only provided a brief message that did not acknowledge it We value the pivotal contributions of our local national employees around the world it noted The official declined to answer any follow-up questions American bases feeling the pinch overseas In Germany the ruling body has stepped in to pay the salaries of nearly civilian employees that work on U S military bases the nation s finance ministry mentioned in a report American facilities in Germany include the Ramstein Air Base a critical hub for operations in the Mideast and Africa and headquarters to the U S Air Forces in Europe and Africa Workers in other countries have not been so fortunate More than Italian nationals work at the five U S bases in Italy announced union coordinator Zaccaria Of those over local employees at U S bases in Aviano and Vicenza and another workers at a base in Livorno have not received their salaries since the shutdown began We are waiting for urgent responses as there are workers struggling to pay their mortgages to endorsement their children or even to pay the fuel to come to work Zaccaria mentioned He noted the union had inquired the Italian cabinet to intervene but that in the meantime those affected were continuing to show up to work Unfortunately we see no political will to solve this situation but we re asking the Italian leadership to intervene he stated In Portugal a similar situation was playing out at the Lajes Field base in the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean where more than Portuguese workers have not been paid according to Paula Terra head of the Lajes base workers committee Terra explained unpaid staff are still turning up because furloughs aren t legally recognized in a U S -Portugal agreement on the base Staying away could leave them open to disciplinary proceedings she added But this week the Azores Islands regional ruling body approved a bank loan to pay the Portuguese workers at the base in the interim Terra noted she was waiting to hear when workers could claim the money Germany is counting on being repaid once the shutdown ends the finance ministry s spokesperson communicated the AP adding that during previous shutdowns civilians were paid by the U S governing body The governments of Poland Lithuania and Greenland did not respond to a request for comment from the AP about whether they too have also stepped in to pay local workers Majority vulnerable at-risk workers Linda Bilmes a professor of society plan at the Harvard Kennedy School and an expert on constituents finance noted local workers at U S military bases who work as contractors are generally majority at-risk of losing pay during U S leadership shutdowns She added that the U S administration in the past inevitably paid back full-time employees including those working at overseas facilities who may be foreign nationals but that contractors are not inevitably covered which is why certain add extra fees in their contracts to cover foreseen administration funding stoppages But I doubt anyone anticipated this length of delay Bilmes reported In Spain where the U S operates the Moron and Rota military bases in the south a union representing more than Spanish workers explained a delay in payments had been resolved last month with the help of the Spanish establishment Spain s defense ministry did not respond to multiple requests seeking to confirm its involvement in resolving the pay issue Associated Press journalists Konstantin Toropin in Washington Barry Hatton and Helena Alves in Lisbon Portugal Giada Zampano in Rome and Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this review