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MARQUETTE -- The art of negotiation had never crossed Caleb Fox's mind before, but he says Thursday’s collective bargaining workshop in Marquette was an eye opener to how labor unions and management reach agreements.

"It's been really interesting to learn about it and get firsthand experience on what happens everyday, especially being a junior in high school and knowing that someday that's going to be me,” said Fox, a student at Marquette Senior High School.

And his rival on the management team, a fellow MSHS student, couldn't agree more.  “I've learned that management really has to look over everything and look out for the business as well as the employees,” said senior Brittany Barber.  “They have to look out for themselves, not just for the good of everybody."

That's exactly what the Upper Peninsula Labor-Management Council wanted to get across to almost 50 high school students from Marquette and Alger counties during the 4 ½ hour mock bargaining session.

"This is kind of the real deal,” said Paul Kitti, the director of Human Resources and Administration at the Marquette Board of Light and Power and a coach to the management team.  “They have to employ some intuitive thinking as well as analytical skills and be able to calculate the economics of a collective bargaining agreement."

Although students were sitting at opposite sides of the table with opposing arguments, they were able to reach some sort of compromise by the end of the workshop.