The board may have been incompetent and shortsighted. Perhaps they should even try and bring Altman back, and reform themselves out of existence. But why would the vast majority of the workforce back an open letter failing to signal where they stand on the crucial issue - on the purpose of OpenAI and their collective work? Given the stakes which the AI community likes to claim are at issue in the development of AGI, that strikes me as strange and concerning.
Lots of reasons, or possible reasons:
1. They think Altman is a skilled and competent leader.
2. They think the board is unskilled and incompetent.
3. They think Altman will provide commercial success to the for-profit as well as fulfilling the non-profit's mission.
4. They disagree or are ambivalent towards the non-profit's mission. (Charters are not immutable.)