A short update and request:
As you likely know, I have had an opinion or two on the firing of CEO John Plotkin by the board of Oregon State workers’ comp fund SAIF. I have never focused on a single topic as much as this one, having written 10 articles in the course of a month; but the entire backstory, including OVERWHELMING employee response has kept me repeatedly returning to the task.
Wednesday’s article publishing SAIF documents and exposing the involvement of SAIF VP’s in this mess was a barn burner for this blog, generating well over 3,000 views and 50 (thoroughly pissed off) comments in just it’s first 24 hours online. If anything, I have seen early resolve in these state employees, who clearly deserve better, only harden and amplify as the days turn into weeks, and their concerns remain largely ignored by leaders in their company and state. They are making it clear that they are not going away.
And neither am I.
Some of these employees have established an online petition directed at Oregon Governor Kitzhaber, asking for the return of John Plotkin to SAIF.
I ask you to stop and ponder the significance of that for a moment. When have you ever heard a group of employees stand in unison and demand the return of their CEO? It’s a first for me. I’m not sure it’s ever been done. It certainly says something to me about John Plotkin.
I have been asked to post a link to this petition, and encourage those who would like to weigh in on the subject to sign it. I gladly do so. It is located at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/595/926/247/bring-john-plotkin-back-to-saif-corporation
Gaining petition signatures is going to be a challenge for these people. There is a palpable fear of retaliation amongst employees for participating in any pro-Plotkin effort. You can sign the petition and select to not have your name printed publicly, but I suspect they know in the end that their Governor, who they trust at this point no more than their so called “leaders”, will have access to the submitted list. Therefore, I suggest two things.
If you have been following this story, and are offended by what you have heard, sign the petition to show your support. Generally politicians are not too concerned with out of state signatures on these things, but it is important to show that people across the land are offended by this. If you are a resident in Oregon unaffiliated with SAIF, your signature is gold for these people.
SAIF employees: It is simple. If you are upset, please sign the petition. You are going to have to take some ownership in this if it is something you really want, and there is such a thing as safety in numbers. I’ve referenced the quote before, “All evil needs to succeed is that good men to do nothing”.
The choice is yours. Who will succeed here?
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Next week from Bob’s Cluttered Desk: More review of SAIF phone records, and a look at the “independent listening” process at SAIF tentatively titled “Their Kidding, Right (Part Two)?”
For a list of Bob’s other SAIF/Plotkin articles (as well as a couple old AASCIF articles that get picked up in the search), Click here.