Senate confirms Obama choices for National Labor Relations Board WASHINGTON - The National Labor Relations Board had five confirmed members for the first time in more than a decade Tuesday after the Senate took a series of votes approving a full slate of nominees. The status of two of President Obama's choices for the panel, which is charged with hearing disputes between unionized private-sector workers and management, was a key component of a bipartisan agreement reached this month. Under the agreement, Republicans dropped objections to a slate of executive branch nominations and Democrats backed off threatened changes to Senate filibuster rules. As part of the agreement, the White House agreed to appoint two new candidates to replace ones that Obama had attempted to install through his recess appointment power before federal courts struck down the move. The new nominees, Kent Hirozawa and Nancy Schiffer, each were confirmed, 54 to 44, with just one Republican vote. Mark Gaston Pearce, the NLRB chairman, was confirmed for a new term, 59 to 38. Two Republican members, Harry I. Johnson III and Philip A. Miscimarra, were confirmed by voice votes. Without the agreement, the NLRB would have lost of its quorum of three members late next month, jeopardizing its ability to function. All five new members will serve for the remainder of Obama's term. "Today's votes are another reminder that making the Senate work means real things to real people," Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), one of the lead advocates for changing Senate filibuster rules, said in a statement after the votes. Timely up or down votes on executive nominations should be the new normal. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the lead Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the president's agreement to replace his original nominees, whom Republicans considered illegally appointed, was "an important moment in the history of our ability as a country to maintain checks and balances and a certain separation of power among the various branches of government, and especially to restrain the executive." AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the confirmation votes "good news for all workers seeking to exercise the rights they are guaranteed by law." "With today's vote, our country has qualified public servants on duty to defend America's workers, businesses and families," Trumka said. We congratulate all of the nominees and look forward to having a functioning NLRB that will fairly and impartially oversee the workplace rights of millions of Americans. Later this week, the Senate will move on to other pending nominations, including Todd Jones, who is seeking to become the first confirmed director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in seven years.