Amazon is a perfect object lesson and why organized labor is critical in any liberal democracy.

If history shows us anything, it is then big business will not look after the interests of workers unless big business is forced to.

The drive to squeeze out every last penny of profit is just too great.

Two things have to happen. Our society has to be much more careful about legislation to protect workers' rights.

Perhaps more importantly, we must legislate to empower labor organizers. the people who work at Amazon have every bit as much stake in operations as the shareholders who own Amazon. They must have the right to organize and negotiate for better working conditions from a position of relative power.

Since the 1980s, we as a society have made it harder and harder for workers to do that. And now we are paying the price. The conditions at Amazon warehouses are shocking. No civilized society should ever tolerate that kind of worker abuse.