@JLeslie: When unions strike, they don’t get paid by the employer but sometimes the unions have a strike fund where members get some payment.
There are two ways you can look at it (and I can see both viewpoints): One is workers are on standby, probably showed up to work and were told by the employer that they cannot work, which is not the employees’ fault and therefore they should get paid.
The other is that there are employees who are not getting paid and still working (like the police that were involved in that shootout with the unarmed woman the other day). If all employees were then granted back pay, how do the ones that actually showed up and did work be differentiated from the ones who stayed home (although they were presumably ready and able to work, they probably spent their days in coffee shops or whatever)?
I bet they would all like back pay, and we may view it as they should not be punished for a screw up of the government, and maybe they shouldn’t, but what of the ones who are still working without pay?