A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off from Lajes Field in the Azores in 2022. The base in the Portuguese island chain provides an important mid-Atlantic link for U.S. and allied forces traveling to and from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. (Edgar Grimaldo/U.S. Air Force)
The regional government of Portugal’s Azores islands is appealing to the U.S. to make delayed salary payments to civilian workers at a U.S. air base on the Atlantic archipelago.
The late payments are the result of a government shutdown in Washington that has stretched on for more than two weeks with Donald Trump’s Republicans locked in a stand off with congressional Democrats.
Halting the salaries of Portuguese workers is “unprecedented and unacceptable,” Artur Lima, vice-president of the Azores region, said in a statement on the administration’s website. The delay violates U.S. commitments under the U.S.-Portugal Cooperation and Defense Agreement, he added.
Lima urged Portugal’s national government to reach out to their counterparts in Washington to ensure that civil workers at the Lajes Air Base on the island of Terceira receive wages due since the start of the month. He also requested that salary updates for these workers are applied urgently.
About 450 Portuguese workers at the base have not received their wages this month, Portuguese state-owned broadcaster RTP reported earlier on its website.
Trump this week ordered the U.S. Defense Department to use whatever funds remain available to pay U.S. troops while the government shutdown lasts.
The U.S. has maintained a presence at the Lajes Air Base for about 80 years and it attracted global attention in 2003 when George W. Bush hosted a high-profile meeting there just days before the invasion of Iraq.
