When the National Labor Relations Board upended a 12-year precedent last year with a decision that said graduate students at private universities had the right to organize, it spurred movements on campuses around the country and a wave of pushback from school administrations.

This week saw the latest win for labor organizers with a ruling that cleared the University of Chicago to proceed with a union vote for 2,500 teaching and research assistants. But under the Trump administration and with a new makeup of the NLRB, these movements could cool. Cases around issues such as graduate student unionization are likely to be heard by a Republican-majority board that tends to be less sympathetic with union organizers in general, including those at universities.

The Chicago regional director of the NLRB ruled Tuesday that the graduate student assistants at the University of Chicago should be considered employees.