Longest U.S. Government Shutdown Hits Europe as Thousands of Local Workers at American Bases Go Unpaid

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — The longest U.S. government shutdown on record has reached far beyond American shores, disrupting the lives of thousands of foreign nationals working at U.S. military bases across Europe. Nearly six weeks into the funding impasse, local employees in countries including Italy, Portugal, and Spain have gone unpaid, while others rely on their governments to temporarily cover salaries until Washington resolves its budget crisis.

At least 2,000 workers have had their salaries interrupted, according to local unions and officials. In some cases, host governments such as Germany have stepped in to fund payrolls, while others, like Italy and Portugal, have left workers in limbo.

“It’s an absurd situation because nobody has responses, nobody feels responsible,” said Angelo Zaccaria, a union coordinator at Italy’s Aviano Air Base. “This is having dramatic effects on us Italian workers,” he told The Associated Press.

The unpaid employees perform vital support roles across the U.S. military network in Europe — from food services and maintenance to logistics and construction.

Their pay arrangements vary depending on bilateral agreements between the United States and each host nation, but many are either directly employed by the U.S. government or contracted through local firms.

In Italy, where more than 4,600 Italian nationals work at five American bases, around 1,300 employees at Aviano, Vicenza, and Livorno have not been paid since the shutdown began.

“We are waiting for urgent responses, as workers are struggling to pay their mortgages, to support their children, or even to pay for the fuel to come to work,” Zaccaria said.

The union has appealed to the Italian government for emergency intervention, but officials have yet to act. “Unfortunately, we see no political will to solve this situation,” he added.

A similar crisis is unfolding in Portugal, where over 360 Portuguese workers at the Lajes Field base in the Azores have gone without pay for weeks.

According to Paula Terra, head of the base’s workers’ committee, employees have continued reporting for duty despite not being paid — partly because furloughs are not recognized under the U.S.-Portugal defense agreement, meaning absences could lead to disciplinary action.

This week, the regional government of the Azores approved a bank loan to temporarily cover wages, but it remains unclear when employees will actually receive the funds.

Germany, home to roughly 11,000 civilian workers employed at U.S. military facilities, including the Ramstein Air Base, has taken a different approach. Berlin’s finance ministry confirmed that it has stepped in to pay those salaries directly, expecting reimbursement from Washington once the shutdown ends.

“The U.S. has always paid back these costs after past shutdowns,” a German finance ministry spokesperson said, referencing similar episodes in previous years.

However, other host nations — including Poland, Lithuania, and Greenland — have not commented on whether they plan to assist local workers at U.S. bases within their territories.

The Pentagon has remained largely silent on the crisis, providing only a brief statement that failed to address the pay disruption directly. “We value the important contributions of our local national employees around the world,” a Department of Defense spokesperson told AP, declining to answer further questions.

Observers say the shutdown’s impact on U.S. bases overseas underscores the global consequences of Washington’s internal political gridlock. Linda Bilmes, a public finance expert at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, noted that while full-time federal employees are typically repaid after shutdowns, foreign contractors often are not.

“Local workers at U.S. military bases who work as contractors are generally the most at-risk,” Bilmes said. “Many contracts include clauses to cover short-term funding delays — but I doubt anyone anticipated this length of delay.”

Spain, which hosts the Rota and Morón bases in the south, managed to resolve its pay delay last month through government intervention, though Madrid’s defense ministry declined to comment.

The prolonged shutdown has not only created financial hardship for thousands of families but also strained diplomatic goodwill between Washington and its European partners — many of whom see the crisis as a symptom of deeper dysfunction in U.S. governance, mainly caused by the fierce rivalry between political parties in Congress.

As European governments front salaries and unions warn of growing worker unrest, the shutdown’s ripple effects have become a potent reminder that America’s political stalemate is now a transatlantic problem — one measured not only in lost wages, but in fraying trust.