What refusal can we take up?
A cosmic gift indeed, from Bartleby's "I prefer not to" on down through the years to Rundgren's "I don't want to work" money maker, developing fluency in singing, hearing and saying "No" can be a practice, a celebration, a song, or even the ultimate form of collective refusal--a workers' strike.
While a librarians' strike is our profession's ultimate form of collective refusal, there are many other ways union participation benefits the librarians who have such representation. Kelly McElroy is paraphrased by ALA as saying: "concerns about working conditions, quality of life, and higher education funding brought many of her colleagues together" (Smith 2018). During the COVID-19 pandemic situation, in Pittsburgh, librarians and other professionals at the Carnegie Library worked with their recently-organized union, affiliated with the United Steelworkers, to successfully demand that library employees should not be required to report to library facilities and should be paid regardless of their ability to work from home (DPE 2020).
Even in times when a strike, or unionizing, or any sort of collective action feels impossible, consider small ways you can refuse, both at work and in your personal life. Can you refuse to let someone speak over you in a meeting? Can you refuse new projects unless you receive additional resources? Can you refuse to feel guilty about spending time with your loved ones instead of constantly working?