It's only obvious if you've accepted the status quo ("at will employment", no worker protections). Many other developed countries have substantial worker protections [1], and I see questioning this as work towards progress in having those same worker protections in the US. Young folks haven't been ground down long enough by "The System" to accept that what is wrong is what will always be, which is awesome!
If your employer can fire you, and you have no recourse, for illustrating their abusive work environment (Amazon warehouses, in this case), that's a problem! What's more shocking (IMHO) are those who publicly comment that this is acceptable in a developed nation. The house is on fire, don't snicker at those trying to put the fire out.
[1] https://www.ituc-csi.org/new-ituc-global-rights-index-the (New ITUC Global Rights Index - The world’s worst countries for workers)
The ITUC Global Rights Index rates countries from one to five according to 97 indicators, with an overall score placing countries in one to five rankings.
1 – Irregular violations of rights: 18 countries including Denmark and Uruguay
2 – Repeated violations of rights: 26 countries including Japan and Switzerland
3 – Regular violations of rights: 33 countries including Chile and Ghana
4 – Systematic violations of rights: 30 countries including Kenya and the USA <-- We are here, ranked below 77 other countries
If you live in the US, and you haven't accepted that, then you live in a fantasy world.
It's great to know what the other possibilities are, and work to make them a reality, but acting as if the current reality isn't in force... well, that's just foolish, and these two Amazon UX designers are receiving a harsh lesson in reality.
Being idealistic is genuinely awesome, and I wish more people would aspire for better in our society. But behaving as if your ideals are reality is usually not going to go well for you, and people would do well to remember that. These former employees have possibly put their (and their families') financial security in jeopardy because they didn't.