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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Targeting Part-Time Workers
Aired May 12, 2003 - 08:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Benefits for some workers -- or for some workers, rather, one major retailer will soon be caught in the bull's-eye -- talking about Target.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" for more on this.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you. We do pronounce that Target, of course. I think we're all tired of that, I guess.
All right, this is actually kind of an interesting situation here. Part-time workers at Target -- those working 20 hours or less -- the store is now saying you won't be getting any bennies (ph) -- no benefits, no medical, no dental, no nothing.
Now, this is really important for a couple of reasons. First of all, obviously for the people who work at Target, but also for the millions of Americans who do work these part-time hours, in large part or to a degree, to get those benefits.
The other thing that's critical here as well is that there are millions of Americans who are out of jobs -- the unemployment rate around 6 percent. And they're looking for these part-time jobs to sort of bridge the gap between their old job and their new job. Benefits especially for people with families, is so important here.
So, 245,000 employees at Target, 12 percent of the American workforce are these part-timers, so this is a big deal.
HEMMER: Wow! Meanwhile, another story here, K-Mart right now.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: Some folks there ticked off? What's happening?
SERWER: Well, a couple of things going on here. First of all, these K-Mart shareholders are all mad. Why? Why are you mad? You knew this company was bankrupt. I don't know why they're hanging on to this stupid -- these stock certificates, thinking these things are going to come back. Every day -- every day we're telling people, the stock is worthless. And it's still traded for 3 cents, 4 cents, 5 cents. Hope springs eternal.
The new stock was issued last week, OK? And with that, the company said sorry, folks, the old stuff is totally worthless. Of course, they get swamped with calls, e-mails.
Now, here is an interesting point, though. The new stock -- and this just got issued to people on Wall Street, people who owed a lot of money, the banks and some hedge funds, right? The new stock traded at 15 on Wednesday. It's already down to 13. Hello! Do we see a trend here? I mean, you know, I don't know why people keep hanging around these companies. This stock -- people lost $7 billion.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Shop elsewhere...
SERWER: Yes.
KAGAN: ... for your stock.
HEMMER: Hey, Worldcom hit 7 cents, by the way.
SERWER: Oh, is it? You know, and you were playing -- don't play around in those places. I mean, you were talking about that. You just don't do that at home.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
KAGAN: Don't try this at home.
HEMMER: See you next hour.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired May 12, 2003 - 08:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Benefits for some workers -- or for some workers, rather, one major retailer will soon be caught in the bull's-eye -- talking about Target.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" for more on this.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you. We do pronounce that Target, of course. I think we're all tired of that, I guess.
All right, this is actually kind of an interesting situation here. Part-time workers at Target -- those working 20 hours or less -- the store is now saying you won't be getting any bennies (ph) -- no benefits, no medical, no dental, no nothing.
Now, this is really important for a couple of reasons. First of all, obviously for the people who work at Target, but also for the millions of Americans who do work these part-time hours, in large part or to a degree, to get those benefits.
The other thing that's critical here as well is that there are millions of Americans who are out of jobs -- the unemployment rate around 6 percent. And they're looking for these part-time jobs to sort of bridge the gap between their old job and their new job. Benefits especially for people with families, is so important here.
So, 245,000 employees at Target, 12 percent of the American workforce are these part-timers, so this is a big deal.
HEMMER: Wow! Meanwhile, another story here, K-Mart right now.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: Some folks there ticked off? What's happening?
SERWER: Well, a couple of things going on here. First of all, these K-Mart shareholders are all mad. Why? Why are you mad? You knew this company was bankrupt. I don't know why they're hanging on to this stupid -- these stock certificates, thinking these things are going to come back. Every day -- every day we're telling people, the stock is worthless. And it's still traded for 3 cents, 4 cents, 5 cents. Hope springs eternal.
The new stock was issued last week, OK? And with that, the company said sorry, folks, the old stuff is totally worthless. Of course, they get swamped with calls, e-mails.
Now, here is an interesting point, though. The new stock -- and this just got issued to people on Wall Street, people who owed a lot of money, the banks and some hedge funds, right? The new stock traded at 15 on Wednesday. It's already down to 13. Hello! Do we see a trend here? I mean, you know, I don't know why people keep hanging around these companies. This stock -- people lost $7 billion.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Shop elsewhere...
SERWER: Yes.
KAGAN: ... for your stock.
HEMMER: Hey, Worldcom hit 7 cents, by the way.
SERWER: Oh, is it? You know, and you were playing -- don't play around in those places. I mean, you were talking about that. You just don't do that at home.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
KAGAN: Don't try this at home.
HEMMER: See you next hour.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
