State workers to get pay for shutdown

State workers who did not work during last year's shutdown will get half of their pay or half of their vacation time, under an agreement reached by the governor and the unions. The cost to the state will be around $4 million, and around eight or nine thousand workers will be affected.

The workers win and the state loses on this one, I guess. I am not aware of the legalities surrounding this or why the state has to pay anything in the first place; was there a threat of suing the state due to breach of contract? In any case, the funniest part of this in my eyes is the last paragraph in the story: "As part of the agreement, the unions also agreed not to lobby lawmakers to restore full shutdown pay." What does that mean? State employees can't say anything about it to legislators? If a legislator asks, they have to keep their mouths shut? What kind of unenforceable nonsense is this?