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From strikes to boycotts: A look at consumer and worker power

Howard Huestis (center), president of IAM Local 1746, leads machinists on strike across the Silver Lane entrance to Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford on May 5, 2025.
Tyler Russell
/
Connecticut Public
Howard Huestis (center), president of IAM Local 1746, leads machinists on strike across the Silver Lane entrance to Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford on May 5, 2025.

A number of student groups and grassroots organizations recently called for a day of “No work, no school, no shopping,” to protest immigration enforcement in Minnesota. This comes at a time when consumers are used to seeing reasons not to support certain brands or companies, and worker strikes are up around the country.

This hour, we take a look at labor strikes and economic boycotts, when they work, and when they don’t. We discuss what power consumers have, and we explore the history of labor movements and talk about the present moment.

GUESTS:

Special thanks to our interns divina cordeiro and Megan Rodriguez-Hawkins.

Disrupted is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Lily is the senior producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show'. She's also a producer of the narrative podcasts 'Generation Barney' and 'Generation Gilmore Girls.' She first worked at Connecticut Public as an intern in 2014. She has previously worked for WBUR, KUNC and as a producer for the New England News Collaborative's weekly show 'Next'. Lily can be reached at ltyson@ctpublic.org.
Kevin Chang Barnum is a producer for Connecticut Public Radio’s weekly show Disrupted. Kevin grew up in Connecticut and started his radio work at his graduate university’s radio station, KUCI. He has also worked for HRN, a network of food and beverage podcasts.
Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is an award-winning scholar at Wesleyan University, author, and host of 'Disrupted' on Connecticut Public.
Erica McIntosh is Senior Regional Editor for Southern Connecticut. Erica was born and raised in Connecticut.
Robyn Doyon-Aitken is the Deputy Director of Audio Storytelling and Talk Shows
Meg Fitzgerald is the senior manager of projects and radio programming.

Funding provided by:
The Connecticut Office of Film, Television and Digital Media

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