WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s newest picks for the National Labor Relations Board sought to assure Senate lawmakers Tuesday that they can be fair and impartial in resolving business-labor disputes, despite backgrounds that include advocating for unions.

The comments came at a hearing for Nancy Schiffer, former associate general counsel to the AFL-CIO, and Kent Hirozawa, chief counsel to the NLRB’s chairman. The two were nominated last week as part of a deal in which Republicans agreed to end delaying tactics that blocked some of Obama’s appointments.