Italy urges US to unlock pay for military base workers amid shutdown | World News
Students from Columbus, Ohio, wait outside a barrier as U.S. Capitol Police watch over the East Plaza where congressional leaders will have a news conferences on the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Local staff at some American military bases in Italy have not been paid due to the US government shutdown and Rome is in talks with US authorities to resolve the issue, the Italian foreign minry said on Saturday.
About 2,000 non-military Italian employees, mainly at Aviano Air Base and the Vicenza army base in northeast Italy, missed their October pay despite being employed under Italian work contracts, the minry said.
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Italian workers at US Navy bases in the country, however, were paid on time as the navy applies different rules to the army and air force.
In the United States, the record-long shutdown has left millions of federal government workers without paychecks, has frozen critical food aid and has snarled airline travel, among other impacts.
Italy’s Foreign Miner Antonio Tajani urged both Washington and the US embassy in Rome to act swiftly, regardless of when the shutdown ends.
“(Italy’s) foreign minry has made a request to the US embassy in Rome, which confirmed that the US Army and US Air Force are examining with the Pentagon the possibility of using their own funds to pay the Italian employees,” the minry said in a statement.
