>I just don't understand how one entity can have this much power, in this case they essentially are the government they could demand whatever the hell they wanted.

When you zoom out and look at the actors involved, this isn't all that strange. This is a strike - if the citizens of a country don't want to do business with a certain entity isn't that how the government, ideally, should work? Citizens should be able to demand whatever the hell they wanted; otherwise who does the government work for?