Technology's Bargaining Chip

The Federal Managers Association's new president, Patricia Niehaus, told Federal Times in an interview this month that technology could play a role in bargaining, but not to the extent of dictating what an agency should buy. An excerpt from the interview:

I think probably appropriate arrangements for using the technology would be a better area to bargain as opposed to the actual technology because I think that partially falls under the budget -- you know, purchasing technology is not cheap. . . . Right now, under the current labor relations, we would bargain on things like training for the technology, how long a person would have for a break-in period to get used to new technology, that kind of thing. So I think that would be a more appropriate avenue of bargaining on technology issues as opposed to, 'We want you to buy a Microsoft product instead of a brand X product,' or whatever.