Task: songer_origin

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals. Your task is to identify the type of court which made the original decision. Code cases removed from a state court as originating in federal district court. For "State court", include habeas corpus petitions after conviction in state court and petitions from courts of territories other than the U.S. District Courts. For "Special DC court", include courts other than the US District Court for DC. For "Other", include courts such as the Tax Court and a court martial.

JAMES DICKSON PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge:
This case is before us upon the petition of Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company (Procter & Gamble) to review and set aside a decision and order of the National Labor Relations Board (Board) and upon the Board’s cross-application for enforcement of its order. Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Co., 248 N.L.R.B. No. 119 (Apr. 4,1980).
Procter & Gamble is a national manufacturer with its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. This case involves four Procter & Gamble plants — Port Ivory, New York, Kansas City, Kansas, Dallas, Texas, and Baltimore, Maryland — and the four independent unions representing employees at these plants. The four unions eventually want to bargain with Procter & Gamble on a multiplant basis. As a step towards this goal, each union, during its collective bargaining agreement’s renewal negotiations in 1976 or 1977, attempted to include members of the other three unions on its bargaining committee. Procter & Gamble clearly is opposed to multiplant bargaining and, therefore, it sought to discourage the participation of such “outsiders” in the negotiations.
The unions filed charges with their respective regional Board offices, alleging that Procter & Gamble committed numerous unfair labor practices during the 1976-77 contract renewal cycle. The charges were transferred to the Brooklyn, New York Regional Office, complaints issued, and the cases consolidated before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). The ALJ concluded that Procter & Gamble violated subsections 8(a)(1), (3), and (5) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (3), (5), by engaging in a concerted course of conduct at all four plants which effectively foreclosed the unions’ selected outside bargaining representatives from participating in the contract negotiations. He also found unfair labor practices at individual plants. Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Co., No. JD-608-79 (Aug. 31, 1979) (appended to 248 N.L.R.B. No. 119) (Jt.App. at 980). The Board affirmed the ALJ’s rulings, findings, and conclusions and adopted his recommended order with slight modification. 248 N.L.R.B. No. 119 (Jt.App. at 1094).
In its petition to this court, Procter & Gamble raises four major objections: (1) the Board erred in finding any unfair labor practices; (2) several allegations are barred by the six-month limitation in subsection 10(b) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 160(b); (3) the Board erred in issuing one decision and order for the four distinct plants and unions when there was no single consolidated complaint; and (4) the Board’s conclusions, order and notice are too broad. We consider these objections in order and, for the reasons that follow, we find them without merit. Accordingly, except for that portion of the Board’s order directing Procter & Gamble to sign the now expired 1977 Kansas City agreement, we grant enforcement.
I
The following facts are supported by substantial evidence on the record. Each of the unions involved in this case is an independent labor organization and the recognized bargaining representative for the employees at its respective plant. For numerous years, each union has negotiated and executed collective bargaining agreements for its unit. Before 1976-77, each union was represented at contract negotiations by a bargaining committee composed solely of its members, although the union’s attorney occasionally attended the bargaining sessions too. Negotiations were held at the plant and Procter & Gamble paid the employee negotiators for the work time they lost while in negotiations.
In 1968, several independent unions representing Procter & Gamble employees formed an “Amalgamation,” which by 1971 consisted only of the four unions in this case. One of the Amalgamation’s aims is to establish a multiplant bargaining unit. At the Amalgamation’s September 1975 meeting, the four unions decided to further this goal by including the outsiders on their bargaining teams during the upcoming contract renewal negotiations. This was, however, the only contemplated change in bargaining procedure. The Amalgamation’s proposed plan was published in the Port Ivory union’s October 7, 1975 bulletin; thus by early 1976, Procter & Gamble was alerted to the unions’ plan.
The four contracts expired on different dates. Renewal negotiations accordingly began at Port Ivory on October 6, 1976, at Kansas City on January 9, 1977, at Dallas on March 25,1977, and at Baltimore on July 18,1977. Upon learning of the unions’ plan to include outsiders, Procter & Gamble management at each plant responded in a nearly identical manner shortly before negotiations were to begin. Initially management asserted that negotiations could not be held on the plant premises because each plant had a security, or access, rule which restricted any visitors, including employees from other Procter & Gamble plants, from entering the plant except on a guided tour. Management then suggested that, as an accommodation to the union’s insistence upon including outsiders, the negotiations could be held at alternative facilities, such as local motels, with the parties sharing the rental costs. In addition, Procter & Gamble would no longer pay local employee negotiators. Each union protested these changes but, because its contract was due to expire, the union eventually negotiated with Procter & Gamble under these forced conditions.
Each union managed to include three outsiders on its team for the opening negotiation session. The outsiders were introduced as members of the union’s bargaining committee present to negotiate a contract for only that union. In each case management, using a series of prepared written questions furnished by Procter & Gamble’s industrial relations department at its Cincinnati headquarters, then asked the outsiders about their role and purpose in participating in the negotiations.
The Port Ivory renewal negotiations serve as a detailed example of Procter & Gamble’s concerted opposition to the outsiders. When the division manager, Philip Robinson, learned that the Port Ivory union intended to include outsiders, he consulted with Bob Larsen, a member of Procter & Gamble’s industrial relations staff in Cincinnati, about the union’s plan. Larsen informed Robinson that legally the union could select whomever it wanted to represent it in collective bargaining negotiations. He suggested, however, that since the union was making a change in its team composition, Procter & Gamble also could change the procedural ground rules. Larsen reminded Robinson of the plant’s security rule.
Robinson then urged the Port Ivory union to use only local employees on its committee and to bargain as it had in the past. The union refused to comply or to name the outsiders who would participate. Consequently in September 1976, Robinson told the union that if it insisted on including outsiders, negotiations could not be held on the plant premises because of the security rule and that Procter & Gamble would not pay employee negotiators. The union responded that it had no choice but to hold the negotiations outside the plant and offered its union hall as an alternative site. Procter & Gamble refused to meet at the union hall, so negotiations were held at various local motels with the parties sharing the rental cost of the facilities.
At the first meeting on October 6, 1976, three outsiders were present: Omer Jones (Kansas City), Hoyt Middlebrooks (Dallas), and Raymond Bramble (Baltimore). Port Ivory union president, Ken McCauley, introduced the three as members of the union’s bargaining committee and stated that they were present to negotiate a contract for only Port Ivory. Robinson then asked each outsider the series of prepared written questions received from Larsen about their role and purpose in participating in the bargaining. After his interrogation, Robinson adjourned the meeting to study the ramifications of having outsiders present. Thirteen additional sessions were held in which outsiders did not participate and an agreement was reached and signed on November 16, 1976.
At Kansas City, Dallas, and Baltimore, the same sequence of events unfolded: management refused to hold negotiations on the plant premises if outsiders participated because of the security rule and it discontinued paying local employee negotiators; the unions protested these changes but eventually agreed to meet at local motels, thereby incurring half the rental cost of these alternative facilities; and at each opening session, the Procter & Gamble representative asked the outsiders the questions furnished by the industrial relations staff even though the outsiders had been introduced as members of the negotiating union’s bargaining committee.
Aside from the opening session for each plant and one afternoon session of the Dallas negotiations, outsiders did not otherwise participate in the bargaining. Because negotiations were held during weekday working hours, outsiders had to obtain some form of leave in order to attend any sessions and as the negotiations progressed, this became increasingly difficult.
The outsiders’ efforts to obtain leave commenced when the Port Ivory negotiations opened in early October 1976. In order to participate, outsiders from Kansas City, Dallas, and Baltimore requested union business leave as provided in their effective collective bargaining agreements. The wording in each contract was nearly identical: “By agreement between the Plant Manager and the Union, leaves of absence without pay up to thirty (30) days per year may be granted for the purpose of attending to Union business.” (Jt.App. at 378-79 (Baltimore). See Jt.App. at 174 (Port Ivory); 375 (Dallas); 991 (Kansas City).) Although the preamble to each contract defined “union” as the contracting labor organization for that agreement, union officials in Kansas City and Baltimore anticipated using union business leave to participate as outsiders because in the past they had obtained such leave to attend Amalgamation and Council meetings and to visit government officials as well as to attend to their local union’s affairs. Officials of the Dallas union were not so optimistic. In 1975, one official had requested union business leave in order to go to Procter & Gamble’s plant in Alexandria, Louisiana to explain the Dallas contract to the Alexandria union membership. Dallas management denied the request because the leave did not relate to the Dallas union’s business. The denial was grieved and resulted in arbitration upholding management’s position. Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Co. v. Independent Oil & Chemical Workers of Dallas, (Jan. 5, 1978) (Yarowsky, Arb.) (Jt. App. at 808).
Managers at Kansas City, Dallas, and Baltimore denied the requests for union business leave to attend the Port Ivory negotiations because they now uniformly interpreted the union leave provisions to cover only local union affairs, which did not include representing the Port Ivory union. The Dallas industrial relations manager further warned his employees that they would be disciplined if they used union leave to negotiate at Port Ivory. When Port Ivory union officials later requested union leave to participate in the Kansas City negotiations, their personnel manager said that if they went to Kansas City, there would be “serious repercussions” and if they actually used union leave for that purpose, they would be disciplined. The Baltimore plant manager also told his employees that no leave would be granted to attend the Kansas City or Dallas bargaining sessions. Outsiders consequently gave up requesting union business leave.
Outsiders next requested vacation leave for days on which negotiations were scheduled. On October 13, 1976, the Baltimore union president, Walter Donnellon, requested a one-day vacation for October 15 when a Port Ivory bargaining session was to be held. His request was denied because a purported departmental policy, with which Donnellon was unfamiliar, required ten-days advance notice for vacation leave. Substitute workers apparently were available. Donnellon also asked two other Baltimore employees to request vacation leaves for October 15; their requests were granted. Donnellon grieved the leave denial, the supposed policy was abandoned, and Donnellon subsequently received vacations on one day’s notice.
Omer Jones (Kansas City) and Roger Hatton (Dallas) also requested vacation leave in order to participate in the bargaining at Port Ivory. Jones’ request was denied because another employee already was scheduled for vacation at that time. Hat-ton’s request was denied because no substitute was available.
Despite difficulties in obtaining vacation leave, Omer Jones requested leave, on March 24, 1977, for the following day when negotiations were scheduled for Dallas. Although Jones’ supervisor had told him a week earlier that one day’s notice was sufficient, Jones’ vacation request was denied because of the short notice. Substitute workers were available.
Because the outsiders could not obtain any form of leave, the union engaged in negotiations asked its management to meet evenings or weekends when outsiders could attend without leave. Except for the opening session at Kansas City which was held on a Sunday, Procter & Gamble refused to meet at these times.
Based on these facts, the Board found that Procter & Gamble made a concerted effort to discourage participation by outsiders. First, if the unions had not attempted to include outsiders, management at all four plants would have continued the past practices of negotiating on the plant premises and of paying local employee negotiators. Although an employer has no statutory duty to do either, the Board found that discontinuing these practices was simply retaliation over the unions’ selection of outsiders as their bargaining representatives. The assertion that the plants’ security rules necessitated meeting off the premises was a mere pretext to impede the unions, particularly since union attorneys had attended previous bargaining sessions held at the plant. Thus, the Board concluded that Procter & Gamble violated subsections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (5), and ordered it to cease and desist from refusing to make its plant premises available or to pay local employee negotiators because the union invited persons outside the bargaining unit to participate in contract negotiations. The Board also affirmatively ordered Procter & Gamble to reimburse each union for sums expended to rent alternative meeting facilities in 1976-77 and to pay the local employees for the work time they lost negotiating in 1976-77.
The Board next found that Procter & Gamble’s interpretation of the union business leave provisions as limited to local union business was reasonable. Accordingly it dismissed allegations that such leave denials were unlawful and that the Dallas and Port Ivory managements had unlawfully threatened to discipline employees if they misused union leave to participate in another union’s negotiations.
The Board, however, found that Procter & Gamble’s denial of vacation time or some alternative form of uncompensated leave to its employees so they could attend negotiations elsewhere while management simultaneously refused to bargain evenings or weekends effectively precluded outsider participation. Recognizing that the geographic distances between the plants made evening or weekend sessions impracticable, the Board concluded that simply the leave denials prevented the unions from selecting their bargaining representatives and violated subsections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act. In drawing this conclusion the Board relied heavily upon the Seventh Circuit’s decision in NLRB v. Indiana & Michigan Electric Co., 599 F.2d 185 (7th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1014, 100 S.Ct. 663, 62 L.Ed.2d 643 (1980). The Board ordered Procter & Gamble to cease and desist from denying uncompensated leave and/or vacation time.
On appeal, Procter & Gamble contends that the Board erred in finding it made an orchestrated effort to dissuade the unions from including outsiders on their bargaining committees, because it actually met with the unions’ full committees and negotiated contracts. This is all that subsection 8(d) of the Act requires. Procter & Gamble also raises objections to the Board’s specific findings on the issues of meeting on the plant premises, paying the local employee negotiators, and denying leaves.
At the outset, we note that section 7 of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 157, guarantees employees the right “to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing....” While the Supreme Court has recognized this right as fundamental to the statutory scheme, NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1, 33, 57 S.Ct. 615, 622, 81 L.Ed. 893 (1937), it is not absolute: the employer may refuse to negotiate with the union bargaining committee if he can carry the heavy burden of showing that the selected representatives present a clear and present danger to the collective bargaining process. IBEW v. NLRB, 557 F.2d 995, 998 (2d Cir. 1977); NLRB v. David Butterick Co., 399 F.2d 505, 507 (1st Cir. 1968); Harley Davidson Motor Co., 214 N.L.R.B. 433 (1974). This rule requires the employer to show exceptional circumstances — such as bad faith or ulterior motive — underlying the union’s choice of its bargaining team members. Mere inclusion of persons outside the negotiating unit does not constitute exceptional circumstances. Indiana & Michigan Electric, 599 F.2d 185 (other units); Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. v. NLRB, 415 F.2d 174, 177-78 (8th Cir. 1969) (other locals); General Electric Co. v. NLRB, 412 F.2d 512, 517-20 (2d Cir. 1969) (other international unions); Standard Oil Co. v. NLRB, 322 F.2d 40, 44 (6th Cir. 1963) (other locals). Further, the employer’s claim that the union’s use of outsiders is an unlawful attempt to compel companywide or multiplant bargaining also is insufficient unless the employer can demonstrate that the union actually attempted to bargain outside unit boundaries. Indiana & Michigan Electric, 599 F.2d at 191; Minnesota Mining, 415 F.2d at 178; General Electric, 412 F.2d at 519-20.
In this case, Procter & Gamble did not refuse to bargain collectively with the unions’ committees and the unions did not engage in multiplant bargaining without Procter & Gamble’s consent. Each round of bargaining and the resulting agreement were confined to a single plant. Thus, the Board properly found that the unions’ “coordinated bargaining” presented no clear and present danger to the collective bargaining process. This case, however, does raise the issue of whether Procter & Gamble violates the Act by engaging in conduct which effectively chills its employees’ right to select their own bargaining representatives by preventing or discouraging those representatives from fully participating in the negotiations. The Board concluded, and we affirm, that Procter & Gamble’s conduct at all four plants constitutes such a violation.
First, Procter & Gamble seeks to justify its unilateral changes in bargaining procedure — discontinuing negotiations on the plant premises and pay for local employee negotiators — on several grounds: the plant security rules are valid, longstanding, and not applied discriminatorily; there is no statutory obligation to meet at the plant; alternative sites were available; meeting elsewhere was an accommodation to the unions; and the unions mutually agreed to the changes. The Board found, however, that Procter & Gamble used its security policy as a mere pretext and really instituted these changes as retaliation over the unions’ inclusion of outsiders. We must accept the Board’s findings as conclusive because they are “supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole.... ” Subsections 10(e) and (f) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 160(e), (f); Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 487-88, 71 S.Ct. 456, 463-64, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951); Barrus Construction Co. v. NLRB, 483 F.2d 191, 197 (4th Cir. 1973); NLRB v. Aerovox Corp. of Myrtle Beach, 435 F.2d 1208, 1209 (4th Cir. 1970). In prior years, union attorneys had attended negotiations in the plant without objection; it would be no more difficult to police three outside employees. Further, the unions clearly did not agree to the changes. They protested before negotiations began and they subsequently filed unfair labor practice charges alleging that Procter & Gamble’s unilateral changes were unlawful. While an employer has no statutory obligation either to pay employee negotiators for lost work time or to negotiate on the plant premises — subsection 8(d) of the Act only mandates meeting at reasonable times and in good faith — and while an employer may have the right to exclude nonemployees from its plant for legitimate business reasons, NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U.S. 105, 112-14, 76 S.Ct. 679, 684-85, 100 L.Ed. 975 (1956), an employer cannot discontinue such longstanding practices where the effect is to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their § 7 rights. Borg-Warner Controls, 198 N.L.R.B. 726, 728, 730 (1972). Accordingly, we uphold the Board’s findings and conclusions.
Second, Procter & Gamble raises numerous objections to the Board’s order that it cease and desist from denying uncompensated leave and/or vacation time to outsiders. Procter & Gamble contends that an alternative form of uncompensated leave had never been requested, was never denied, and is not provided for in the contracts. The Board’s order, therefore, imposes a new contractual term upon the parties without their bargaining over it and, in effect, requires Procter & Gamble to insure that its employees from one plant are available for negotiations at another. Further, because the Board placed no limitations upon this uncompensated leave, the Company’s business operations may be disrupted seriously. Finally, Procter & Gamble contends that the Board’s reliance on Indiana & Michigan Electric, 599 F.2d 185, is misplaced because the two situations are factually distinct and the Board’s ruling in this case goes far beyond the Seventh Circuit’s decision.
We affirm the Board’s findings because they are supported by substantial evidence and we hold this remedy Is within the Board’s authority and discretion. Uncompensated leave was never requested or denied in 1976-77 because the union officials anticipated using either union leave to attend the negotiations — as they had used it in the past to attend Amalgamation and Council meetings — or vacation time. They soon found it futile, however, to seek any form of leave as their requests were denied because of purported departmental policies on advance notice or because the notice given was too short. While uncompensated leave to attend negotiations elsewhere was not explicitly provided for in the contracts, at least the Port Ivory and Dallas contracts in effect during the 1976-77 negotiations contained a personal leave provision:
Upon application to his department manager or supervisor, with good and sufficient reasons, an employee shall, when plant conditions permit, be granted a leave of absence without pay for a reasonable length of time. Such request shall be made as far in advance as possible.
(Jt.App. at 174 (Port Ivory 1973 Agreement). See also Jt.App. at 375 (Dallas 1974 Agreement).) Surely serving as a bargaining representative for another union, when substitute workers are available, is a good and sufficient reason for uncompensated leave and easily could be covered by the personal leave provisions. Procter & Gamble also should not be heard to complain about the Board’s decision not to define the form of such uncompensated leave. The above personal leave provision apparently only limits the number of employees requesting uncompensated leave to the number at which plant operations will not be disrupted; it limits the duration of such leave to a “reasonable length of time”; and it states nothing about the frequency of such leave requests. These are the very factors which Procter & Gamble contends are problems with the Board’s alternative remedy of uncompensated leave in this case. Obviously they cannot be so problematic. Further, Procter & Gamble has the first shot at placing limits on uncompensated leave as long as its limits do not interfere with employees’ statutory rights, and particularly with their choice of bargaining representatives. Procter & Gamble also has some leeway to grant employees vacation time or to meet evenings or weekends rather than to grant any uncompensated leave, although utilizing these options necessarily is limited because of the geographic distances involved. There is no indication that the uncompensated leave remedy will be abused in a manner disrupting Procter & Gamble’s business operations. That Procter & Gamble may limit such leave for valid business reasons or choose other alternatives demonstrates the contrary. Procter & Gamble’s options also demonstrate that the Board’s order does not impose a new contractual provision upon the parties. The cease and desist order serves only to remedy the unfair labor practices found in this case, and as such, we hold that it is a proper exercise of the Board’s wide discretion in fashioning remedies. NLRB v. Gissel Packing Co., 395 U.S. 575, 612 n.32, 89 S.Ct. 1918, 1939 n.32, 23 L.Ed.2d 547 (1969); Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. NLRB, 379 U.S. 203, 216, 85 S.Ct. 398, 405, 13 L.Ed.2d 233 (1964).
Finally, the Board’s reliance on Indiana & Michigan Electric, 599 F.2d 185, is not misplaced. That case involved four plants within a small geographic area and four bargaining units of a local union, each plant and unit having their own contract. During the 1975-76 contract renewal cycle, the union, which eventually wants company-wide bargaining, was represented by permanent union officials, employee members of the unit whose contract was being renegotiated, and “travelers” — employee members of the other three units. The Company had prior experience with travelers participating in initial sessions of the 1973 and 1974 negotiations. In 1975-76, however, travelers sought leave to attend all scheduled meetings. The Company denied such requests because it thought the union was forcing multiplant bargaining and such extensive leaves would be burdensome to administer. The Company also refused to meet evenings or weekends. The Board found that the union did not engage in multiplant bargaining, but that the Company did violate subsections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act “by refusing to grant travelers uncompensated leave to permit them to engage in bargaining during working hours, while simultaneously refusing the Union’s request to bargain during nonworking hours since its conduct interfered with the Union’s right to select its own bargaining representatives.” Id. at 189.
In our case, the Board found Indiana & Michigan Electric to be persuasive despite somewhat different factual settings. First, Indiana & Michigan Electric involved four separate bargaining units of one union; this case involves four independent unions. As discussed above, however, a union may select anyone to serve as its bargaining representative. Second, in Indiana & Michigan Electric the plants were within 133 miles of each other; in this case the plants are scattered across half the United States. Further, both companies denied leave requests and simultaneously refused to meet evenings or weekends. In Indiana & Michigan Electric, the Board gave the Company the option of granting uncompensated leave or meeting during nonworking hours. In this case, the logistical difficulties of meeting evenings or weekends when the plants are so widely scattered demonstrates, if anything, that it would be irrational for the Board not to order uncompensated leave as a cease and desist remedy. Accordingly, we find that Indiana & Michigan Electric is persuasive authority for the Board’s conclusions and order in this case.
Finding no error in the Board’s findings and conclusions with respect to the subsection 8(a)(1) and (5) violations, we grant enforcement on this portion of the Board’s order.
II
The Board concluded that Procter & Gamble violated subsections 8(a)(1) and (3) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (3), by denying vacation leave to Walter Donnellon (Baltimore union president) and to Omer Jones (Kansas City union president) in order to prevent them from participating in negotiations at Port Ivory and Dallas, respectively. The Board’s findings are supported by substantial evidence. Donnellon’s vacation leave request for October 15 was denied because of a purported departmental policy requiring ten-days advance notice. Donnellon was unfamiliar with this new policy and it was not applied to other Baltimore employees requesting leave for the same day. The Baltimore plant manager also clearly knew when the Port Ivory negotiations were scheduled because he told Donnellon that the October 15 session was cancelled a day before the Port Ivory union learned of the cancellation. Omer Jones’ vacation leave request for March 25, 1977 was denied because of too short notice — one day. Jones’ supervisor, however, had told him a week earlier that one day’s notice was sufficient, and Jones’ absence would not have disrupted the work schedule. Accordingly, we affirm the Board’s conclusions that these denials violated subsections 8(a)(1) and (3) of the Act.
The Board also found that Procter & Gamble violated subsections 8(a)(1) and (3) when it twice suspended Omer Jones for attending negotiations on March 25 and July 18, 1977, without leave. Jones was president of the Kansas City union in 1977 and had worked at the plant for 44 years. He had a good attendance record and had never been disciplined. When Jones’ request for vacation time on March 25 was denied, he nevertheless absented himself from work and participated in the Dallas bargaining session held that day. When Jones returned to work, his supervisor knew that he had been in Dallas. Jones was suspended for one day. Because it was futile to request a leave, Jones also absented himself from work on July 18, 1977, in order to attend a bargaining session at Baltimore. This time Jones’ wife called the Kansas City plant on July 17 and reported that he would not be at work the following day. In the past, Jones had taken time off after simply calling in beforehand. Jones also was absent from work on July 19 because his mother-in-law had an emergency operation. His absence on July 19 was excused, but Jones received a five-day disciplinary suspension because of his absence on July 18. Jones’ supervisor testified that he was suspended because his excuse for July 18 was not “a good reason.” (Jt.App. at 1772-73.) The Board found that Procter & Gamble disciplined Jones because he participated in the Dallas and Baltimore negotiations and because it sought to discourage the outsiders. The Board ordered Procter & Gamble to cease and desist from disciplining employees engaged in protected activities, to make Omer Jones whole for any loss of pay suffered because of his suspensions, and to expunge his personnel file.
Procter & Gamble contends that Jones’ suspensions were justified because he twice absented himself from work without leave — acts of deliberate insubordination. Further, Jones’ union activities do not immunize him from discipline. Procter & Gamble correctly asserts that mere union membership or concerted activity does not insulate an employee from being disciplined for just cause. Florida Steel Corp. v. NLRB, 601 F.2d 125, 131-32 (4th Cir. 1979); Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. NLRB, 583 F.2d 1268, 1273 (4th Cir. 1978). Rather, as this court has stated on numerous occasions, when the employer has come forward with evidence of a legitimate and substantial business justification for disciplining an employee, the burden is on the Board not simply to declare the disciplinary action is pretextual because there is some evidence of improper motive, but to find “an affirmative and persuasive reason why the employer rejected the good cause and chose a bad one.” Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. NLRB, 539 F.2d 1335, 1337 (4th Cir. 1976) (quoting NLRB v. Billen Shoe Co., 397 F.2d 801, 803 (1st Cir. 1968)). See also Florida Steel, 601 F.2d at 131-32; Firestone, 583 F.2d at 1273; NLRB v. Patrick Plaza Dodge, Inc., 522 F.2d 804, 807 (4th Cir. 1975); NLRB v. Consolidated Diesel Electric Co., 469 F.2d 1016, 1024 (4th Cir. 1972). In carrying this burden, the Board must produce substantial evidence of antiunion motivation. Florida Steel, 601 F.2d at 132; Firestone, 583 F.2d at 1273; Patrick Plaza Dodge, 522 F.2d at 807; Maphis Chapman Corp. v. NLRB, 368 F.2d 298, 304-05 (4th Cir. 1966).
Applying these standards, we conclude that the Board properly found Procter & Gamble unlawfully suspended Jones in March and July 1977. Although Procter & Gamble introduced evidence of a just cause for its disciplinary actions — Jones’ unapproved absences from work — the Board found antiunion motivation in Procter & Gamble’s denying Jones leave in order to prevent him from participating in negotiations elsewhere; in suspending him without the usual “advisory talk” or warning despite his good record; in disciplining Jones when he was absent in order to attend a Baltimore bargaining session but not when he was absent because his mother-in-law was undergoing an operation; and in Procter & Gamble’s overall hostility to the unions’ attempt at coordinated bargaining. The question whether Jones was suspended because of Procter & Gamble’s antiunion bias or because of his unexcused absences from work is a question of fact to be decided by the National Labor Relations Board, which is empowered by Congress to weigh the employer’s interest “in operating his business in a particular manner” against the employees’ interest in concerted activities. NLRB v. Erie Resistor Corp., 373 U.S. 221, 227-29, 236, 83 S.Ct. 1139, 1144-46, 1149, 10 L.Ed.2d 308 (1963); NLRB v. Lester Brothers, Inc., 337 F.2d 706, 708 (4th Cir. 1964). In this case, there is substantial evidence on the record as a whole to support the Board’s finding that Procter & Gamble suspended Jones because of his union activities. Accordingly, we grant enforcement to these portions of the Board’s order.
Ill
The Board found that at its Kansas City and Dallas plants, Procter & Gamble refused to sign single instruments embodying the agreed-upon contracts where such documents would contain the signatures of the respective union’s entire bargaining committee in order not to recognize outsiders as members of those committees. The Board concluded these refusals violated subsec-tions 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act, 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1), (5), and it ordered Procter & Gamble to cease and desist from such refusals to sign and ordered the Kansas City management to sign the 1977 contract upon the union’s request.
In Kansas City, the union officials and management could not agree upon a formal meeting to sign the contract immediately after the union membership ratified it on February 4,1977. The plant manager, Robert Mclntire, then refused to meet with the entire union bargaining committee. Instead, he gave the union president, Omer Jones, two copies of the contract with space for only their two signatures and stated that only Jones’ signature was necessary to bind the union. Jones refused to sign and insisted that the union’s entire committee was to execute the agreement. In the past, the parties had signed a single document with the bargaining committee, but not necessarily every member thereof, signing on behalf of the union. On February 9, Jones presented a contract to Mclntire signed by the entire union team, including the outsiders, but Mclntire refused to sign it. Rather, he signed yet another copy of the agreement and completely crossed out the union’s signature line. Mclntire enclosed this contract with a letter to Jones, stating that Procter & Gamble considered only Jones’ signature to be necessary and, therefore, it was disregarding the other union signatures on Jones’ February 9 copy. Further, it considered the two separately signed instruments together to complete the signing process and to produce a binding agreement. Mclntire justified crossing out the union’s signature line on the enclosed copy because he already had Jones’ signature on the February 9 copy. (Jt.App. at 447.) To date, the parties have never signed a single instrument although they agree that there is a valid contract in existence.
In Dallas, the union membership ratified the agreed-upon contract on April 7. The local management proposed that only union president, Roger Hatton, and plant manager, Niles Millsap, sign the contract. Hat-ton suggested, however, that the parties continue the past practice of signing one instrument with the plant manager signing for Procter & Gamble and the union’s negotiating committee signing for the union. Management then proposed either that the Dallas employees (but not the outsiders) and Millsap sign one contract or that two separately executed agreements be combined as in Kansas City. The union continued to insist upon a single executed instrument and a formal signing meeting. Mill-sap then sent Hatton a contract which he had signed with the space for all other signatures, including Hatton’s, crossed out. The cover letter stated that Procter & Gamble had satisfied its obligation to sign and only Hatton’s signature was necessary on behalf of the union. Other

Question: What type of court made the original decision?
A. Federal district court (single judge)
B. 3 judge district court
C. State court
D. Bankruptcy court, referee in bankruptcy, special master
E. Federal magistrate
F. Federal administrative agency
G. Special DC court
H. Other 
I. Not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: F