What’s going on?

Yes, in fact, the prolonged U.S. federal government shutdown is affecting approximately 2,000 local civilian employees at U.S. military bases in Europe who have not received their October wages.

• These workers are employed under national contracts, for example, in Italy at U.S. bases, such as the Aviano Air Base and the Vicenza Army Base.
• According to one report, the shutdown has now lasted for almost six weeks.
• In Germany, for example, the German government took over and paid almost 11,000 local workers at U.S. bases, in expectation of reimbursement by Washington some time later.

Why it matters

Human and financial-impact side

For those 2,000 or more workers in Italy: not getting paid means delayed rent/mortgage payments, difficulty affording fuel, and “workers are struggling to pay their mortgages, to support their children, or even to pay the fuel to come to work.”

What’s at play are morale and trust. “It’s an absurd situation,” as one union coordinator said, “because nobody has responses, nobody feels responsible.”

These are, operationally speaking, vital support functions: logistics, maintenance, food service, and so on. If the workers went on strike-even if they’re technically supposed to – the functioning of those overseas bases would be in jeopardy.

Strategic and diplomatic side

• It puts a strain on host-nation relationships: In Italy, the foreign ministry is asking U.S. authorities to intervene to pay the workers, regardless of when the shutdown ends.
• It draws attention to the variability of payment structures for “local national” employees working at U.S. military facilities overseas: some host countries can step in; some cannot or will not.
• It illustrates how a domestic budget impasse in Washington has international ripple effects, even into employment and the civilian workforce abroad.

What are the root causes?

This happens because Congress has not enacted appropriation bills-or a continuing resolution-funding various government operations. Many agencies cannot, by law, spend money without an appropriation.

For local civilians overseas, their pay is dependent on contracts/agreements between the U.S. government and either the host nation or contractors. Those contracts may assume ongoing U.S. appropriations. So when the U.S. funds freeze, the pay may freeze.

Some host countries, such as Germany, have the legal and financial frameworks to intervene temporarily when necessary, while others do not or would not even consider it. This leads to uneven treatment across countries.

What’s being done and what’s not

In Italy, the Italian government has formally, through its foreign ministry, approached the U.S. embassy and those relevant U.S. military commands with a request to find a workaround so that the local employees get paid.

In Portugal, too, at its Lajes Field base in the Azores, more than 360 workers have not been paid. The regional government there approved a bank loan to bridge the gap.

The U.S. military, the Pentagon,  has so far made only a minimal public statement, saying they “value the important contributions of our local national employees around the world.” But they declined to provide detailed answers on how the pay gap will be resolved.

What to watch & what questions remain

Will these local workers be reimbursed retroactively when the shutdown ends? Historically, some have been, but contractors and local national employees are more vulnerable than U.S. federal staff.

•  Will host nations continue to step in? Germany has 11,000 workers; will others follow? What are the long-term diplomatic and financial implications of that?
• Will this affect operations? If local support staff become demoralized, unpaid, or quit, it will affect the day-to-day logistics of U.S. bases overseas.
• What does this set a precedent for? If such a civilian workforce abroad is unpaid, does it affect recruitment, contract terms, host nation attitudes, etc.?
• And how will U.S. policy respond? Are there contingency plans for overseas civilian employees in case of shutdowns? This may spur new policy.

My judgment

Yes, the shutdown is hitting overseas workers directly. It’s not only “domestic” pain: it’s spread across the Atlantic.

Several 2,000 is believable for Italy’s bases alone; “disrupting operations and salaries” is a fitting term: pay is delayed, and workers face real hardship. I haven’t seen evidence, yet, of major mission-critical operational failure. Still, the risk is mounting.

In short, the human cost is real, the link to the shutdown is direct, and the ripple effects are spreading well outside the borders of the United States.