The respondents, an employer and two labor organizations, waived the procedures for adjudgment of the allegations of an unfair labor practice complaint issued against them under the National Labor Relations Act, and agreed upon the form of a cease-and-desist order to be entered by the National Labor Relations Board against them. The complaint alleged that the employer violated § 8(a)(1), (2) and (3), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(a)(1-3), and the labor organizations § 8(b)(1)(A) and (2), of the Act, as amended, by executing an maintaining a collective bargaining agreement which conditioned employment upon union membership, vested the respondent unions with exclusive control over hiring, and provided for the checkoff of union dues and fees. The prohibitions of the consent order were not limited to the relationship between the employer and the two labor organizations. The respondent employer was directed to refrain from performing, maintaining or giving effect to such an agreement with the respondent unions, 'or any other labor organization,' and from otherwise unlawfully encouraging membership in the respondent unions, 'or any other labor organization,' by discrimination as to hire, tenure, or terms or conditions of employment; and the respondent unions were directed to refrain from performing, maintaining, or giving effect to such an agreement with the respondent employer, 'or any other employer, over which the Board will assert jurisdiction,' and from otherwise causing or attempting to cause the respondent employer, 'or any other employer over which the Board will assert jurisdiction' to discharge, refuse to hire, or otherwise discriminate against any employee in violation of § 8(a)(3) of the Act.
The respondents also agreed that 'any United States Court of Appeals for any appropriate circuit may on application by the Board, enter a decree enforcing the Order of the Board * * *,' and that 'Respondents waive all defenses to the entry of the decree * * *.' R. 29. The Board petitioned the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for enforcement of the order pursuant to § 10(e) of the Act. The enforcement petition submitted the order in the form agreed upon and recited the terms of the settlement stipulation.
The Court of Appeals, sua sponte, and initially without filing an opinion giving reasons supporting its action, entered a decree which excised the phrases 'or any other labor organization' and 'or any other employer over which the Board will assert jurisdiction' wherever they appeared in the consent order and the compliance notices, and enforced the order as so modified. Subsequently, on the Board's second motion for reconsideration, the Court reconsidered its action in light of the opinion of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Labor Board v. Combined Century Theatres, Inc., 46 LRRMan. 2858. That case held that in the face of a like stipulation 'and in the absence of any exception to the order taken before the Board or the showing of any extraordinary circumstances, the Court will not consider respondents' objections.' The motion for rehearing was denied in an opinion covering the present case and six others in which the Court of Appeals had similarly modified orders entered by the Board. 283 F.2d 26. Because we believed the case presented an important question of authority of the Court of Appeals in the premises we granted certiorari. 365 U.S. 833, 81 S.Ct. 746, 5 L.Ed.2d 743.