Task: sc_lcdispositiondirection

What follows is an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States. Your task is to determine whether the decision of the court whose decision the Supreme Court reviewed was itself liberal or conservative. In the context of issues pertaining to criminal procedure, civil rights, First Amendment, due process, privacy, and attorneys, consider liberal to be pro-person accused or convicted of crime, or denied a jury trial, pro-civil liberties or civil rights claimant, especially those exercising less protected civil rights (e.g., homosexuality), pro-child or juvenile, pro-indigent pro-Indian, pro-affirmative action, pro-neutrality in establishment clause cases, pro-female in abortion, pro-underdog, anti-slavery, incorporation of foreign territories anti-government in the context of due process, except for takings clause cases where a pro-government, anti-owner vote is considered liberal except in criminal forfeiture cases or those where the taking is pro-business violation of due process by exercising jurisdiction over nonresident, pro-attorney or governmental official in non-liability cases, pro-accountability and/or anti-corruption in campaign spending pro-privacy vis-a-vis the 1st Amendment where the privacy invaded is that of mental incompetents, pro-disclosure in Freedom of Information Act issues except for employment and student records. In the context of issues pertaining to unions and economic activity, consider liberal to be pro-union except in union antitrust where liberal = pro-competition, pro-government, anti-business anti-employer, pro-competition, pro-injured person, pro-indigent, pro-small business vis-a-vis large business pro-state/anti-business in state tax cases, pro-debtor, pro-bankrupt, pro-Indian, pro-environmental protection, pro-economic underdog pro-consumer, pro-accountability in governmental corruption, pro-original grantee, purchaser, or occupant in state and territorial land claims anti-union member or employee vis-a-vis union, anti-union in union antitrust, anti-union in union or closed shop, pro-trial in arbitration. In the context of issues pertaining to judicial power, consider liberal to be pro-exercise of judicial power, pro-judicial "activism", pro-judicial review of administrative action. In the context of issues pertaining to federalism, consider liberal to be pro-federal power, pro-executive power in executive/congressional disputes, anti-state. In the context of issues pertaining to federal taxation, consider liberal to be pro-United States and conservative pro-taxpayer. In miscellaneous, consider conservative the incorporation of foreign territories and executive authority vis-a-vis congress or the states or judcial authority vis-a-vis state or federal legislative authority, and consider liberal legislative veto. The lower court's decision direction is unspecifiable if the manner in which the Supreme Court took jurisdiction is original or certification; or if the direction of the Supreme Court's decision is unspecifiable and the main issue pertains to private law or interstate relations

Mr. Justice Reed
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The necessity for resolution of conflicting interpretations by Courts of Appeals of § 8 (a) (3) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 61 Stat. 136, 65 Stat. 601, 29 U. S. C. (Supp. V) § 158 (a)(3), impelled us to grant certiorari in these three cases. That section provides that “it shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer... by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization:....” The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in No. 6 (hereinafter referred to as Teamsters), following a decision of the Third Circuit, held that express proof that employer discrimination had the effect of encouraging or discouraging employees in their attitude toward union membership is an essential element to establish violation of this section. That holding conflicts with the holdings of the Second Circuit in No. 5 (hereinafter referred to as Radio Officers) and No. 7 (hereinafter referred to as Gaynor), with which decisions of the First and Ninth Circuits accord, that such employee encouragement or discouragement may be inferred from the nature of the discrimination. (See Part III, p. 48, infra.) In reaching its decision in Gaynor, the Second Circuit also rejected the contention, which contention is supported by many decisions of the Courts of Appeals, that there can be no violation of § 8 (a) (3) unless it is shown by specific evidence that the employer intended his discriminatory action to encourage or discourage union membership. The Second Circuit determined that the employer intended the natural result of his discriminatory action. (See Part II, p. 42, infra.) Moreover, Radio Officers and Teamsters present conflicting views by Courts of Appeals as to the scope of the phrase “membership in any labor organization” in §8 (a)(3). The Eighth Circuit restricts this phrase to “adhesion to membership,” i. e., joining or remaining on a union's membership roster; the Second Circuit, on the other hand, interprets it to include obligations of membership, i. e., being a good union member. (See Part I, p. 39, infra.) Radio Officers also raises subsidiary questions regarding the interrelationship of §8 (a)(3) with § 8 (b) (2) of the Act which makes it an unfair labor practice for a labor organization or its agents “to cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an employee in violation of subsection [8] (a) (3)....” (See Part IV, p. 52, infra.) These cases were argued last term, and, upon our order, reargued this term. They reached us in the following manner.
Teamsters. Upon the basis of a charge filed by Frank Boston, a truck driver employed by Byers Transportation Company and a member of Local Union No. 41, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, A. F. L., the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the union alleging violation of §§ 8 (b)(1)(A) and 8 (b)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act by causing the company to discriminate against Boston by reducing his seniority standing because of Boston’s delinquency in paying his union dues. A hearing was had before a trial examiner, whose intermediate report was largely adopted by the Board with one member dissenting.
The Board found that the union, as exclusive bargaining representative of the teamsters in the company’s employ, had in 1949 negotiated a collective-bargaining agreement with the company which governed working conditions on all over-the-road operations of the company. This agreement established a seniority system under which the union was to furnish periodically to the company a seniority list and provided that “any controversy over the seniority standing of any employee on this list shall be referred to the Union for settlement.” Union security provisions of the agreement were not effective due to lack of the authorization then required by § 8 (a) (3) of the Act. The seniority list therefore included both union members and nonmembers. Each new employee of the company, after a thirty-day trial period, was placed at the bottom of this list, and such employee would gradually advance in position as senior members were either removed from the list or reduced in their position on it. Position upon the seniority list governed the order of truck-driving assignments, the quality of such assignments, and the order of layoff.
The bylaws of Teamsters Local Union No. 41 provided that “any member, under contract, one month in arrears for dues shall forfeit all seniority rights... A member’s dues were payable on the first day of each month, and he was deemed “in arrears” for any month’s dues on the second day of the following month. Boston did not pay his dues for June 1950 until July 5, 1950. When the union transmitted a new seniority list to the company on the following July 15, Boston, who had previously been eighteenth on the list, was reduced to fifty-fourth, the bottom position on the list. As a result of such reduction Boston was denied driving assignments he would otherwise have obtained and for which he would have received compensation.
Upon these facts a majority of the Board found that the union had violated §§ 8 (b)(1)(A) and 8 (b)(2) of the Act. As to the former, the Board held that the union’s reduction of Boston’s seniority restrained and coerced him in the exercise of his right to refrain from assisting a labor organization guaranteed by § 7. The Board held that, “absent a valid contractual union-security provision, Boston had the absolute protected right under the Act to determine how he would handle his union affairs without risking any impairment of his employment rights and that the Union had no right at any time whether Boston was a member or not a member to make his employment status to any degree conditional upon the payment of dues....” As to the latter, the Board concluded that the union had caused the company to discriminate against Boston and adopted the Trial Examiner’s finding that “the normal effect of the discrimination against Boston was to encourage nonmembers to join the Union, as well as members to retain their good standing in the Union, a potent organization whose assistance is to be sought and whose opposition is to be avoided. The Employer’s conduct tended to encourage membership in the Union. [] Its discrimination against Boston had the further effect of enforcing rules prescribed by the Union, thereby strengthening the Union in its control over its members and its dealings with their employers and was thus calculated to encourage all members to retain their membership and good standing either through fear of the consequences of losing membership or seniority privileges or through hope of advantage in staying in....”
The Board entered an order requiring the union to cease and desist from the unfair labor practices found and from related conduct; to notify Boston and the company that the union withdraws its request for the reduction of Boston’s seniority and that it requests the company to offer to restore Boston to his former status; to make Boston whole for any losses of pay resulting from the discrimination; and to post appropriate notices of compliance.
The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit denied the Board’s petition to enforce its order. The court held that “the evidence here abundantly supports the finding of the Board that the respondent caused or attempted to cause the employer to discriminate against Boston in regard to 'tenure... or condition of employment/ ” but “discrimination alone is not sufficient” and “we can find no substantial evidence to support the conclusion that the discrimination... did or would encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization.” This conclusion was reached because “the testimony of Boston... shows clearly that this act neither encouraged nor discouraged his adhesion to membership in the respondent union” and because, assuming the effect of the discrimination on other employees was relevant, the court found no evidence to support a conclusion that such employees were so encouraged or discouraged. We granted the Board’s petition for certiorari.
Radio Officers. Upon the basis of a charge filed by William Christian Fowler, a member of The Radio Officers’ Union of the Commercial Telegraphers Union, A. F. L., the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the union alleging violation of §§ 8 (b)(1)(A) and 8 (b)(2) of the Act by causing the A. H. Bull Steamship Company to dis-criminatorily refuse on two occasions to employ Fowler. No complaint was issued against the company because Fowler filed no charge against it. Following the usual proceedings under the Act, a hearing was had before a trial examiner, whose findings, conclusions, and recommendations with certain additions were adopted by the Board.
The Board found that at the time the transactions giving rise to this case occurred the union had a collective-bargaining contract with a number of steamship concerns including the Bull Steamship Company covering the employment of radio officers on ships of the contracting companies. Pertinent provisions in this contract are:
“Section 1. The Company agrees when vacancies occur necessitating the employment of Radio Officers, to select such Radio Officers who are members of the Union in good standing, when available, on vessels covered by this Agreement, provided such members are in the opinion of the Company qualified to fill such vacancies.”
“Section 6. The Company shall have the right of free selection of all its Radio Officers and when members of the Union are transferred, promoted, or hired the Company agrees to take appropriate measures to assure that such members are in good standing, and the Union agrees to grant all members of the Union in good standing the necessary 'clearance’ for the position to which the Radio Officer has been assigned. If a member is not in good standing, the Union will so notify the Company in writing.”
The union’s contention that this contract provided for a hiring hall under which complete control over selection of radio officers to be hired by any company was given to the union was rejected by the Trial Examiner and by a majority of the Board. Such an agreement would have legalized the actions of the union in this case. But the Board concluded, primarily from the last sentence of § 6 of the contract, that the contract “was clear on its face and did not provide for any hiring hall arrangement” and that it therefore was not improper for the Trial Examiner to exclude evidence that general, although not universal, practice had been for radio officers to be assigned to employers by the union.
The Board also found that: On February 24, 1948, the company telegraphed an offer of a job as radio officer on the company’s ship S. S. Frances to Fowler, who had often previously been employed by the company; Fowler had notified the company that he would accept the job; the company then informed Kozel, the radio officer on the previous voyage of the ship, that he was being replaced by “a man with senior service in the company”; Fowler reported to the Frances without seeking clearance from the union and Kozel reported such action to the union; the union secretary wired Fowler that he had been suspended from membership for “bumping” another member and taking a job without clearance and notified the company that Fowler was not in good standing in the union; the union secretary had no authority to effect such a suspension, the suspension was void and Fowler was in good standing in the union at all times material in this case; express requests to the union for clearance of Fowler for employment on the Frances by the company and by Fowler were subsequently refused, the union secretary stating that he would never again clear Fowler for a position with that company although Fowler would be cleared for jobs with other employers; unable to obtain clearance for Fowler, the company gave the job to another man supplied by the union, and Fowler returned to his home in Florida; on April 22, 1948, Fowler returned to New York and again advised the company that he was available for work before reporting to the union; the union secretary told Fowler he was being made “a company stiff” and adhered to his position that he would not clear Fowler for work with that company; clearance sought by the company for Fowler for a job on the S. S. Evelyn was subsequently refused, and another man was dispatched to the job by the union.
Upon these facts a majority of the Board found that the union had violated §§ 8 (b)(1)(A) and 8(b)(2). The Board rejected the union’s defense that the union security provision of the contract, preferential hiring for members in good standing, immunized the union’s action. They found that Fowler was in good standing at all times notwithstanding his suspension by the union secretary, and that conformity with the union’s hiring-hall rules and procedures was not also required by the contract. Thus the Board concluded that the union, by refusing to clear Fowler in both February and April, restrained and coerced Fowler in his statutory right to refrain from observance of the union’s rules, and caused the company to discriminate against Fowler by denying him employment. The Board adopted the Trial Examiner’s finding that “the normal effect of the discrimination against Fowler was to enforce not only his obedience as a member, of such rules as the Respondent might prescribe, but also the obedience of all his fellow members. It thereby strengthened the Respondent both in its control of its members for their general, mutual advantage, and in its dealings with their employers as their representative. It thus encouraged non-members to join it as a strong organization whose favor and help was to be sought and whose opposition was to be avoided. In its effect upon nonmembers alone, it must therefore be regarded as encouraging membership in the Respondent. Finally, by its demonstration of the Respondent’s strength, the discrimination in the present case also had the normal effect of encouraging Fowler and other members to retain their membership in the Respondent either through fear of the consequences of dropping out of membership or through hope of advantage in staying in.”
The Board entered an order requiring the union to cease and desist from the unfair labor practices found and from related conduct; to notify Fowler and the company that it withdraws objection to his employment and requests the company to offer him employment as a radio officer; to make Fowler whole for any losses of pay resulting from the discrimination, and to post appropriate notices of compliance.
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the Board’s findings and conclusions and granted the Board’s petition for enforcement of its order. The court agreed that the provisions of the contract “plainly give the company the right to select the man it desires to hire, and require the union to grant ‘clearance’ if the man the company wants is a member in good standing,” that “such procedure is not a 'hiring hall’ arrangement,” and that Fowler was in good standing at the time of refusal of clearance. It rejected the union’s contention that its refusal to clear was merely a statement of views concerning breach of its rules and as such was within the protection of § 8 (c). We agree that, viewing the record as a whole, each of these findings is supported by substantial evidence. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. Labor Board, 341 U. S. 694; Universal Camera Corp. v. Labor Board, 340 U. S. 474. As to §§ 8 (b)(2) and 8 (a)(3), the court held that “refusal of clearance caused the company to discriminate against Fowler in regard to hire. Without the necessary clearance it could not accept him as an employee. The result was to encourage membership in the union. No threats or promises to the company were necessary.... Whether the union’s motive was, as it argues, to enforce the contract provisions against discharging satisfactory radio officers such as Kozel, is immaterial.... Such conduct displayed to all non-members the union’s power and the strong measure it was prepared to take to protect union members... The court also held that “a finding that the union has violated § 8 (b)(2) can be made without joining the employer and finding a § 8 (a) (3) violation,” and that it was proper to enter a back-pay order against the union without ordering reinstatement by the employer. We granted the union’s petition for certiorari.
Gaynor. Upon the basis of charges filed by Sheldon Loner, a nonunion employee of Gaynor News Company, the General Counsel of the Board issued a complaint against the company alleging inter alia violation of §§ 8 (a) (1), (2) and (3) of the Act by granting retroactive wage increases and vacation payments to employees who were members of the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union of New York and Vicinity and refusing such benefits to other employees because they were not union members. The Board adopted the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Trial Examiner with certain additions.
The Board found that in.1946 the company, engaged in the wholesale distribution and delivery of newspapers and periodicals, entered into a collective-bargaining agreement respecting delivery-department employees with the union. This agreement provided for specified wages and paid vacations, and also provided for a closed shop, i. e., restricting employment by the company to members of the union. The agreement, however, permitted the employment by the company of nonunion employees pending such time as the union could supply union employees. This provision was necessary because the union was closed, ordinarily admitting to membership only first-born legitimate sons of members. The company at all pertinent times had nonunion as well as union employees in its delivery department. This original agreement was subsequently extended to 1948 and a supplementary agreement was executed by the parties in 1947 providing that in the event the parties negotiated a new contract, the wage rates set therein would be retroactive for three months. In October 1948 the company and the union entered into such a new contract which included an invalid union-security clause and provided for increased wage and vacation benefits. In this agreement the company expressly recognized the union as exclusive bargaining agent of all employees in the delivery department. In compliance with the 1947 supplementary agreement, the company in November 1948 made lump-sum payments to its union employees of the differential between the old and new wage rates for the three months’ retroactive period. Further payments were subsequently made to union members to compensate for differences in vacation benefits under the two contracts even though the supplementary agreement made no reference to such benefits. The company refused to make similar payments to any of its nonunion employees on the grounds that it was not contractually bound to do so, and, in its business judgment, did not choose to do so.
The Board concluded that, since nothing in the supplementary agreement prohibited equal payment to nonunion employees, “the contract affords no defense to the allegation that the Respondent unlawfully engaged in disparate treatment of employees on the basis of union membership or lack of it...,” and held that the company had violated the Act as alleged. The company’s arguments that its actions had not violated § 8 (a) (3) because “the record is barren of any evidence that the discriminatory treatment of non-union employes encouraged them to join the union” or had such purpose, and that there could be no such evidence because all the nonunion employees had previously sought membership in the union and been denied because of the union’s closed policy, were rejected. The Board adopted the Trial Examiner’s finding that “it is obvious that the discrimination with respect to retroactive wages and vacation benefits had the natural and probable effect not only of encouraging nonunion employees to join the Union, but also of encouraging union employees to retain their union membership.” We assume this concedes that the employer acted from self-interest and not to encourage unionism. An order was entered requiring the company to cease and desist from the unfair labor practices found and from related conduct; to make whole Loner and all other nonunion employees similarly situated for any loss of pay they have suffered by reason of the company’s discrimination against them; and to post appropriate notices of compliance.
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, upon the Board’s petition, granted enforcement of all parts of the order pertinent here. On the issue of the legality of the discrimination, the court distinguished Labor Board v. Reliable Newspaper Delivery, Inc., 187 F. 2d 547, involving actions closely paralleling the company’s here by another company dealing with the same union, stating, “there discrimination resulted from what the court considered the entirely legal action of the minority union in asking special benefits for its members only. The union made no pretense of representing the majority of employees or of being the exclusive bargaining agent in the plant. The other non-union employees, reasoned the Court, were quite able to elect their own representative and ask for similar benefits. Not so here. The union here represented the majority of employees and was the exclusive bargaining agent for the plant. Accordingly, it could not betray the trust of non-union members, by bargaining for special benefits to union-members only, thus leaving the non-union members with no means of equalizing the situation.” 197 F. 2d, at 722. The court continued, in answer to the company’s contention that its action “had neither the purpose nor the effect required by § 8 (a) (3)”: “discriminatory conduct, such as that practiced here, is inherently conducive to increased union membership. In this respect, there can be little doubt that it ‘encourages’ union membership, by increasing the number of workers who would like to join and/or their quantum of desire. It may well be that the union, for reasons of its own, does not want new members at the time of the employer’s violations and will reject all applicants. But the fact remains that these rejected applicants have been, and will continue to be, ‘encouraged,’ by the discriminatory benefits, in their desire for membership. This backlog of desire may well, as the Board argues, result in action by non-members to ‘seek to break down membership barriers by any one of a number of steps, ranging from bribery to legal action.’ A union’s internal politics are by no means static; changes in union entrance rules may come at any time. If and when the barriers are let down, among the new and now successful applicants will almost surely be large groups of workers previously ‘encouraged’ by the employer’s illegal discrimination. We do not believe that, if the union-encouraging effect of discriminatory treatment is not felt immediately, the employer must be allowed to escape altogether. If there is a reasonable likelihood that the effects may be felt years later, then a reasonable interpretation of the Act demands that the employer be deemed a violator.” 197 F. 2d, at 722-723. We granted the company’s petition for certiorari.
I. Meaning of “Membership.”
The language employed by Congress in enacting the heart of § 8 (a) (3) is identical with that of the predecessor section in the Wagner Act, § 8 (3): “By discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization....” 49 Stat. 452. These are the first cases to reach us involving application of this section or its predecessor to the problem of encouragement of union membership by employers. We have on many occasions considered aspects of the application of these sections to actions by employers aimed at discouragement of union membership. The principles invoked in those cases are, of course, equally applicable to both aspects of employer discrimination, but most of the issues of statutory construction raised here have not previously been considered by this Court.
In past cases we have been called upon to clarify the terms “discrimination” and “membership in any labor organization.” Discrimination is not contested in these cases: involuntary reduction of seniority, refusal to hire for an available job, and disparate wage treatment are clearly discriminatory. But the scope of the phrase “membership in any labor organization” is in issue here. Subject to limitations, we have held that phrase to in-elude discrimination to discourage participation in union activities as well as to discourage adhesion to union membership.
Similar principles govern the interpretation of union membership where encouragement is alleged. The policy of the Act is to insulate employees’ jobs from their organizational rights. Thus §§8 (a)(3) and 8 (b)(2) were designed to allow employees to freely exercise their right to join unions, be good, bad, or indifferent members, or abstain from joining any union without imperiling their livelihood. The only limitation Congress has chosen to impose on this right is specified in the proviso to §8 (a)(3) which authorizes employers to enter into certain union security contracts, but prohibits discharge under such contracts if membership “was not available to the employee on the same terms and conditions generally applicable to other members” or if “membership was denied or terminated for reasons other than the failure of the employee to tender the periodic dues and the initiation fees uniformly required as a condition of acquiring or retaining membership.” Lengthy legislative debate preceded the 1947 amendment to the Act which thus limited permissible employer discrimination. This legislative history clearly indicates that Congress intended to prevent utilization of union security agreements for any purpose other than to compel payment of union dues and fees. Thus Congress recognized the validity of unions’ concern about “free riders,” i. e., employees who receive the benefits of union representation but are unwilling to contribute their share of financial support to such union, and gave unions the power to contract to meet that problem while withholding from unions the power to cause the discharge of employees for any other reason. Thus an employer can discharge an employee for nonmembership in a union if the employer has entered a union security contract valid under the Act with such union, and if the other requirements of the proviso are met. No other discrimination aimed at encouraging employees to join, retain membership, or stay in good standing in a union is condoned.
From the foregoing it is clear that the Eighth Circuit too restrictively interpreted the term “membership” in Teamsters. Boston was discriminated against by his employer because he was delinquent in a union obligation. Thus he was denied employment to which he was otherwise entitled, for no reason other than his tardy payment of union dues. The union caused this discrimination by applying a rule apparently aimed at encouraging prompt payment of dues. The union’s action was not sanctioned by a valid union security contract, and, in any event, the union did not choose to terminate Boston’s membership for his delinquency. Thus the union by requesting such discrimination, and the employer by submitting to such an illegal request, deprived Boston of the right guaranteed by the Act to join in or abstain from union activities without thereby affecting his job. A fortiori the Second Circuit correctly concluded in Radio Officers that such encouragement to remain in good standing in a union is proscribed. Thus that union in causing the employer to discriminate against Fowler by denying him employment in order to coerce Fowler into following the union’s desired hiring practices deprived Fowler of a protected right.
II. A. — Necessity for Proving Employer’s Motive.
The language of § 8 (a) (3) is not ambiguous. The unfair labor practice is for an employer to encourage or discourage membership by means of discrimination. Thus this section does not outlaw all encouragement or discouragement of membership in labor organizations; only such as is accomplished by discrimination is prohibited. Nor does this section outlaw discrimination in employment as such; only such discrimination as encourages or discourages membership in a labor organization is proscribed.
The relevance of the motivation of the employer in such discrimination has been consistently recognized under both § 8 (a) (3) and its predecessor. In the first case to reach the Court under the National Labor Relations Act, Labor Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp,, 301 U. S. 1, in which we upheld the constitutionality of § 8 (3), we said with respect to limitations placed upon employers’ right to discharge by that section that “the [employer’s] true purpose is the subject of investigation with full opportunity to show the facts.” Id,, at 46. In another case the same day we found the employer’s “real motive” to be decisive and stated that “the act permits a discharge for any reason other than union activity or agitation for collective bargaining with employees.” Courts of Appeals have uniformly applied this criteria, and writers in the field of labor law emphasize the importance of the employer’s motivation to a finding of violation of this section. Moreover, the National Labor Relations Board in its annual reports regularly reiterates this requirement in its discussion of § 8 (a) (3). For example, a recent report states that “upon scrutiny of all the facts in a particular case, the Board must determine whether or not the employer’s treatment of the employee was motivated by a desire to encourage or discourage union membership or other activities protected by the statute.”
That Congress intended the employer's purpose in discriminating to be controlling is clear. The Senate Report on the Wagner Act said: “Of course nothing in the bill prevents an employer from discharging a man for incompetence; from advancing him for special aptitude; or from demoting him for failure to perform.” Senator Wagner spoke of § 8 (3) as reaching “those very cases where the employer is strong enough to impress his will without the aid of the law.” With this consistent interpretation of that section before it, Congress, as noted above, chose to retain the identical language in its 1947 amendments. No suggestion is found in either the reports or hearings on those amendments that the section had been too narrowly construed, and the House Conference Report states that § 8 (a) (3) “prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee by reason of his membership or non-membership in a labor organization, except to the extent that he obligates himself to do so under the terms of a permitted union shop or maintenance of membership contract.”
B. — Proof of Motive.
But it is also clear that specific evidence of intent to encourage or discourage is not an indispensable element of proof of violation of §8 (a)(3). This fact was recognized in the House Report on the Wagner Act when it was stated that under § 8 (3) “agreements more favorable to the majority than to the minority are impossible....” Both the Board and the courts have recognized that proof of certain types of discrimination satisfies the intent requirement. This recognition that specific proof of intent is unnecessary where employer conduct inherently encourages or discourages union membership is but an application of the common-law rule that a man is held to intend the foreseeable consequences of his conduct. Cramer v. United States, 325 U. S. 1, 31; Nash v. United States, 229 U. S. 373, 376; United States v. Patten, 226 U. S. 525, 539; Agnew v. United States, 165 U. S. 36, 50. Thus an employer’s protestation that he did not intend to encourage or discourage must be unavailing where a natural consequence of his action was such encouragement or discouragement. Concluding that encouragement or discouragement will result, it is presumed that he intended such consequence. In such circumstances intent to encourage is sufficiently established. Our decision in Republic Aviation Corp. v. Labor Board, 324 U. S. 793, relied upon by the Board to support its contention that employers’ motives are irrelevant under § 8 (a)(3), applied this principle. That decision dealt primarily with the right of the Board to infer discouragement from facts proven for purposes of proof of violation of § 8 (3). In holding that discharges and suspensions of employees under company “no solicitation” rules for soliciting union membership, in the circumstances disclosed, violated § 8 (3), we noted that such employer action was not “motivated by opposition to the particular union or, we deduce, to unionism” and that “there was no union bias or discrimination by the company in enforcing the rule.” But we affirmed the Board’s holding that the rules involved were invalid when applied to union solicitation since they interfered with the employees’ right to organize. Since the rules were no defense and the employers intended to discriminate solely on the ground of such protected union activity, it did not matter that they did not intend to discourage membership since such was a foreseeable result.
In Gaynor, the Second Circuit also properly applied this principle. The court there held that disparate wage treatment of employees based solely on union membership status is “inherently conducive to increased union membership.” In holding that a natural consequence of discrimination, based solely on union membership or lack thereof, is discouragement or encouragement of membership in such union, the court merely recognized a fact of common experience — that the desire of employees to unionize is directly proportional to the advantages thought to be obtained from such action. No more striking example of discrimination so foreseeably causing employee response as to obviate the need for any other proof of intent is apparent than the payment of different wages to union employees doing a job than to nonunion employees doing the same job. As noted above, the House Report on § 8 (3) of the Wagner Act emphasized that such disparate treatment was impossible under the Act.
In Gaynor it was conceded that the sole criterion for extra payments was union membership, and the vacation payments were admittedly gratuitous. The wage differential payments, on the other hand, were based upon the 1947 supplementary agreement which the company below contended was negotiated solely in behalf of union members. However, the court below held that the union was exclusive bargaining agent for both union and nonunion employees. The company has not challenged this holding, asserting only that, even though the union represented all employees, the company’s only liability to the nonunion employees can be for breach of contract.
The union’s representative status obviously does not effect the legality of the gratuitous payment. According to the reasoning of the Second Circuit, however, disparate payments based on contract are illegal only when the union, as bargaining agent for both union and nonunion employees, betrays its trust and obtains special benefits for the union members. That court considered such action unfair because such employees are not in a position to protect their own interests. Thus, it reasoned, if a union bargains only for its own members, it is legal for such union to cause an employer to give, and for such employer to give, special benefits to the members of the union for if nonmembers are aggrieved they are free to bargain for similar benefits for themselves.
We express no opinion as to the legality of disparate payments where the union is not exclusive bargaining agent, since that case is not before us. We do hold that in the circumstances of this case, the union being exclusive bargaining agent for both member and nonmember employees, the employer could not, without violating § 8 (a)(3), discriminate in wages solely on the basis of such membership even though it had executed a contract with the union prescribing such action. Statements throughout the legislative history of the National Labor Relations Act emphasize that exclusive bargaining agents are powerless “to make agreements more favorable to the majority than to the minority.” Such discriminatory contracts are illegal and provide no defense to an action under § 8 (a) (3). See Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 323 U. S. 192; Wallace Corp. v. Labor Board, 323 U. S. 248; J. I. Case Co. v. Labor Board, 321 U. S. 332; Order of Railroad Telegraphers v. Railway Express Agency, 321 U. S. 342. Cf. Ford Motor Co. v. Huffman, 345 U. S. 330.
III. Power op Board to Draw Inferences.
Petitioners in Oaynor and Radio Officers contend that the Board's orders in these cases should not have been enforced by the Second Circuit because the records do not include “independent proof that encouragement of Union membership actually occurred.” The Eighth Circuit subscribed to this view that such independent proof is required in Teamsters when it denied enforcement of the Board’s order in that proceeding on the ground that it was not supported by substantial evidence of encouragement. The Board argues that actual encouragement need not be proved but that a tendency to encourage is sufficient, and “such tendency is sufficiently established if its existence may reasonably be inferred from the character of

Question: What is the ideological direction of the decision reviewed by the Supreme Court?
A. Conservative
B. Liberal
C. Unspeciﬁable
Answer:

Answer: A