President Obama will use recess appointments to name three new members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the White House announced this  afternoon.

Since Jan. 1, the board has just two members and cannot carry out most business. Republican Senate leaders have said they will block any NLRB nominations in a move most regard as an attempt to shut down the NLRB. That is part of an overall strategy that has bottled up hundreds of Obama administration nominations. But with the Senate in recess, Obama is allowed to make appointments that last through the current session of Congress.

Earlier today Obama used a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

We commend the president for exercising his constitutional authority to ensure that crucially important agencies protecting workers and consumers are not shut down by Republican obstructionism.  Working families and consumers should not pay the price for political ploys that have repeatedly undercut the enforcement of rules against Wall Street abuses and the rights of working people.