[Pages S127-S129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

TWO HEROES

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I would like to just briefly, today, talk
about two Americans I wanted to bring to the attention of my
colleagues, two heroes of mine.
I never met them. I talked to one fellow on the phone the other day.
A fellow named Robert Naegele and his wife Ellis. He started a company
called Rollerblade, which some may know about, the largest in-line
skate company in America. It was a story I read in the Minneapolis Star
Tribune, when I traveled through Minneapolis the other day by plane.

[[Page S128]]

Robert Naegele sold his company 2 months ago. He apparently made an
enormous amount of money, ran the company, started it from scratch,
brought it to a $250 million company and then sold it a couple months
ago. Then, about a week before Christmas, 280 employees of this company
began to get letters in the mail from Mr. Naegele and his wife. It
turns out he decided to give the people who worked for that company,
the people in the factories, the people who made the skates that made
him a very wealthy man, a Christmas bonus equal to $160 a month for
every month these folks had worked for the company.
For some of them in the factory who had been there all the time he
was there it meant up to $20,000, a $20,000 check. Do you know what he
had done? He and his wife had prepaid the income taxes, so when these
folks opened up this check, totally unexpected, from someone who no
longer owned the company, they got a check that was tax free.
What this man was saying to them was ``you mattered.'' You people who
worked in the plant and factories and helped make these products, you
are the ones who made me successful. You made me some money and I want
to share it with you. What a remarkable story. What a hero.
This guy is out of step with the CEO's in our country who now say the
way to the future is to downsize and lay off and decide to cut the
ground out from under the feet of people who work for a company for 20
years. This fellow says to a factory worker, who the article
describes--as their families are weeping with joy about this unexpected
benevolence they received in the mail--he says, you matter to me. You
made a difference. You made this company successful and I want to share
it with you.
What a remarkable man. It seems to me if more CEO's in this country
would understand what Mr. Naegele understands, this country would be a
better place. Our companies could be better able to compete. You would
have more loyalty, more job security for people who have spent 10 and
20 years investing their time in companies.
I read this one day. The next day I read another piece.
It was about a fellow whose company, on December 11, began to burn
down--it was in a small town in Massachusetts--a man named Aaron
Feuerstein. He was about to go to his 70th birthday party, a surprise
party that was being thrown for him. He learned a boiler had exploded
at his mill, textile plant, setting off a fire. It injured 27 people
and destroyed three of the factory's century-old buildings. That
employs 2,400 people in an economically depressed area.
The people who watched that mill burn felt that they were losing
their jobs, and losing their future.

When Feuerstein arrived to assess the damage to a business
his grandfather had started 90 years ago, he kept himself
from crying by thinking back to the passage from King Lear in
which Lear promises not to weep even though his heart would
``break into a hundred thousand flaws.'' ``I was telling
myself I have to be creative. . . .''

And 3 days later:

On the night of Dec. 14, more than 1,000 employees gathered
in the gym of Central Catholic High School to learn the fate
of their jobs and of the cities of Methuen and Lawrence.
Feuerstein entered the gym from the back, and as he shook the
now off his coat, the murmurs turned to cheers. The factory
owner, who had already given out $275 Christmas bonuses and
pledged to rebuild, walked to the podium. ``I will get right
to my announcement,'' he said. ``For the next 30 days--and it
might be more--all our employees will be paid their full
salaries. But over and above the money, the most important
thing Malden Mills can do for our workers is to get you back
to work. By Jan. 2, we will restart operations, and within 90
days we will be fully operational.''
True to his word, Feuerstein has continued to pay his
employees in full, at a cost of some $1.5 million a week and
at an average of $12.50 an hour--already one of the highest
textile wages in the world. And even better than his word,
Malden Mills was up and running last week at 80% of its
Polartec capacity, thanks to round-the-clock salvage work and
the purchase of 15 new machines. ``I haven't really done
anything,'' says Feuerstein. ``I don't deserve credit.
Corporate America has made it so that when you behave the way
I did, it's abnormal.''

I just want to finally mention that these two men, Robert Naegele,
and Aaron Feuerstein, I think are heroes. I think both recognize what a
lot of this country have forgotten. A company is its workers. Yes. It
is its investors, it is its innovators, it is its scientists, and it is
also its workers. Workers matter, and these heroes have done what more
American business leaders should do. Too many American businesses now
say to those workers, ``You are like a wrench. We use it, and we get
rid of you when it is over.''
What these people are saying is the workers are their business. They
determine whether that business is successful. And both of them have
said we commit ourselves to you workers. And I say to them that they
are American heroes to me, and I wish there were more like them in this
country.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have these two articles
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the articles were ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:

[From the Minneapolis Star Tribune]

It Was a Surprisingly Green Christmas for Rollerblade Employees

(By Dee DePass)

Two weeks ago Rollerblade employee Ann Reader, six months
pregnant with her third child, called her husband, Tim, from
work sobbing. He immediately thought the worst, she said.
But it was good news for Reader and all of Rollerblade's
280 employees. Former Roller- blade co-owner Robert Naegele
and his wife, Ellis, played Santa over the holidays, giving
each of Rollerblade's employees thousands of dollars in tax-
free money, figured at about $160 for each month of service
with the company. Sources familiar with the giveaway
estimated the combined gifts to be $1.5 million.
Reader, team programs manager, has worked there for more
than six years--making her check worth more than $11,000.
None of the employees contacted would confirm the amount of
their checks.
``It made me cry,'' said Reader in a shaky voice. ``I think
it was so generous of them. It was an amazing gesture.''
Rollerblade spokesperson Deborah Autrey said, ``It was a
complete surprise that came out of the blue. People were
laughing and crying and hugging. I have never seen people in
such a stupor.''
Autrey has worked at Rollerblade for four years. More than
half of the employees are warehouse workers with most
receiving hourly wages.
Naegele, who was chairman during the phenomenal growth of
the 15-year-old firm, could not be reached for comment. Two
months ago he sold his 50 percent share of Rollerblade to
Nordica Inc. of Italy for an undisclosed amount. He bought 50
percent of the in-line skate company in 1985, when sales were
only $500,000. Sales in 1994 were $265 million.
In Christmas cards to employees, Naegele wrote that he had
reaped great rewards from his Rollerblade investment because
of the employees' hard work and that he wanted to show
his thanks, Autrey said. Enclosed in the cards were the
gift checks, on which the Naegeles paid federal taxes.
``That way the employees did not get hit with a double
whammy. It is a tax-free gift,'' said Autrey.
The checks were mailed to employees' homes the week before
Christmas. The first arrived on Dec. 21 to an employee who
was home on maternity leave. From there word spread among the
workers, and later that day it was confirmed by the company's
chief executive, John Hetterick, who had only found out the
day before.
When the good news reached Matt Majka, 33, the director of
product marketing, he immediately phoned his wife, Kym, and
asked her to open the mail. When she did, Majka heard sobs.
He has been with the company for 11 years, making his check
worth an estimated $21,120.
``It was very moving,'' he said.
``It was very heartfelt for us. We were extremely shocked
and extremely grateful for his generosity. . . . All the
words he talked about for so many years--about teamwork and
that we are a family--he put his words into action.''
Majka and his wife have a 4-month-old baby and a 2-year-old
son, and the Naegeles' gift went to start a college fund for
them, he said. The couple also had a new IBM computer under
the Christmas tree.
Reader said she bought bikes for her two children (and a
bike baby carrier for the newest family member) and she plans
to put some of the money away in savings.
Majka marveled at what the gift meant to scores of his co-
workers. ``There are some people who have worked in our
warehouse and have been here for a long time,'' he said.
``For some people, they have received a very substantial
check, maybe half their year's salary. It's pretty amazing.''
At least two employees have been there for all of the
company's 15 years.
``I happened to talk to Bob [Naegele] later that night,''
Majka said. ``I told him, `You can't imagine the impact you
have had on everyone.' He bellowed and said; `That is just
what I wanted to hear.' He said, `This is not mine. It is a
gift I had to share.' ''

[[Page S129]]

[[From Time Magazine, Jan. 8, 1996]

The Glow From a Fire

(By Steve Wulf)

Methuen, Massachusetts, is a small city not unlike the
Bedford Falls of It's a Wonderful Life. Over the years, the
working-class town on the border of New Hampshire and
Massachusetts has come to rely on the good heart of one man.
While Aaron Feuerstein may not look much like Jimmy Stewart,
he is the protagonist of a Christmas story every bit as
warming as the Frank Capra movie--or the Polartec fabric made
at his Malden Mills.
On the night of Dec. 11, just as Feuerstein was being
thrown a surprise 70th birthday party, a boiler at Malden
Mills exploded, setting off a fire that injured 27 people and
destroyed three of the factory's century-old buildings.
Because Malden Mills employs 2,400 people in an economically
depressed area, the news was as devastating as the fire.
According to Paul Coorey, the president of Local 311 of the
Union of Needletrades. Industrial and Textile Employees. ``I
was standing there seeing the mill burn with my son, who also
works there, and he looked at me and said, `Dad, we just lost
our jobs.' Years of our lives seemed gone.''
When Feuerstein arrived to assess the damage to a business
his grandfather had started 90 years ago, he kept himself
from crying by thinking back to the passage from King Lear in
which Lear promises not to weep even though his heart
would ``break into a hundred thousand flaws.'' I was
telling myself I have to be creative,'' Feuerstein later
told the New York Times. ``Maybe there's some way to get
out of it.'' Feuerstein, who reads from both his beloved
Shakespeare and the Talmud almost every night, has never
been one to run away. When many other textile
manufacturers in New England fled to the South and to
foreign countries, Malden Mills stayed put. When a
reliance on fake fur bankrupted the company for a brief
period in the early '80s, Feuerstein sought out
alternatives.
What brought Malden Mills out of bankruptcy was its
research-and-development team, which came up with a
revolutionary fabric that was extremely warm, extremely
light, quick to dry and easy to dye. Polartec is also
ecologically correct because it is made from recycled plastic
bottles. Clothing made with Polartec or a fraternal brand
name, Synchilla, is sold by such major outdoors clothiers as
L.L. Bean, Patagonia, Eastern Mountain Sports and Eddie
Bauer, and it accounts for half of Malden's $400 million-plus
in 1995 sales.
Even though the stock of a rival textile manufacturer in
Tennessee, the Dyersburg Corp., rose sharply the day after
the fire, L.L. Bean and many of Malden's other customers
pledged their support. Another apparel company, Dakotah, sent
Feuerstein a $30,000 check. The Bank of Boston sent $50,000,
the union $100,000, the Chamber of Commerce in the
surrounding Merrimack Valley $150,000. ``The money is not for
Malden Mills,'' says Feuerstein, ``It is for the Malden Mills
employees. It makes me feel wonderful. I have hundreds of
letters at home from ordinary people, beautiful letters with
dollar bills, $10 bills.''
The money was nothing to the workers compared to what
Feuerstein gave them three days later. On the night of Dec.
14, more than 1,000 employees gathered in the gym of Central
Catholic High School to learn the fate of their jobs and of
the cities of Methuen and Lawrence. Feuerstein entered the
gym from the back, and as he shook the snow off his coat, the
murmurs turned to cheers. The factory owner, who had already
given out $275 Christmas bonuses and pledged to rebuild,
walked to the podium. ``I will get right to my
announcement,'' he said. ``For the next 30 days--and it might
be more--all our employees will be paid their full salaries.
But over and above the money, the most important thing Malden
Mills can do for our workers is to get you back to work. By
Jan. 2, we will restart operations, and within 90 days we
will be fully operational.'' What followed, after a moment of
awe, was a scene of hugging and cheering that would have
trumped the cinematic celebration for Wonderful Life's George
Bailey.
True to his word, Feuerstein has continued to pay his
employees in full, at a cost of some $1.5 million a week and
at an average of $12.50 an hour--already one of the highest
textile wages in the world. And even better than his word,
Malden Mills was up and running last week at 80% of its
Polartec capacity, thanks to round-the-clock salvage work and
the purchase of 15 new machines. ``I haven't really done
anything,'' says Feuerstein. ``I don't deserve credit.
Corporate America has made it so that when you behave the way
I did, it's abnormal.''
Union chief Coorey begs to differ. Says he: ``Thank God we
got Aaron.''

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