As many great memories as I have from Cossetta's (I just took my parents and kids there three weeks ago), I'm saddened to hear their request to be omitted from the "living wage" law St. Paul enforces on any business that receives a $100,000 subsidy from the city. Cossetta's, as part of a ten million dollar expansion, is asking for a 1.6 million dollar loan from the city, and at the same time asking the city to give them a waiver on paying a "living wage," deemed at $10.16 an hour. Cossetta's insists it pays the "living wage" for most (not all) of their full time employees, and this request is mainly to do with the part time employees receiving the $10.16 rate, but Cossetta's hasn't actually released what it pays it's employees, and doesn't have to until after the vote on granting the waiver. I'm for local business expansion, and frankly, I love Cossetta's, but this waiver request seems unnecessary, mean-spirited and against everything an institution like Cossetta's stands for.
Cossetta's is a busy place. I mean a real busy place. At any given lunch or dinner rush, it can take you 20 minutes to find a place to sit down in either their upstairs or downstairs seating areas, as residents slap down $4+ for a slice of delicious pizza or even more for one of their salads or entrees. This demand shows a need for expansion, but it also shows they are making a lot of money. I understand the finances of a restaurant are usually feast or famine, but places barely making payroll aren't looking at buying premium downtown property adjacent to their establishment, nor fulfilling a multi million dollar expansion ensuring Cossetta's legacy for decades to come.
It would seem from the outside that Cossetta's has enough business to pay all employees a "living wage," but I know many who'd criticize me for trying to make business decisions for a private entity. I'm not the one asking for tax payer help. Cossetta's is the one asking for 1.6 million dollars in St. Paul taxpayer money for expansion. Although I don't live in St. Paul, it sure does become of interest to the people of St. Paul when a business says 'we need the taxpayers to help pay for our future, but we shouldn't have to pay some of those same taxpayers a livable wage.' Some will insist forcing a business to pay a 'living wage" will only push businesses out of the city and into the suburbs. If Cossetta's is foolish enough to even entertain that idea, taxpayers shouldn't loan them the money. They could leave tomorrow and their would be an all out war by every major restaurant in the Twin Cities, and nation wide, to gobble up the prime property Cossetta's rests upon. Cossetta's needs St. Paul more than St. Paul needs them.
There is also this modern vilification about paying people a "living wage." Why shouldn't we require all businesses to pay a livable wage to their full time and part time employees? We have become a country where our lowest wage earners are openly treated as a lowest common commodity, where, even though many of us can't fathom how a person working for $8 an hour can pay their bills and live somewhat of a happy life, we have purged the emotion from such considerations and treat these human beings as a column on a spreadsheet. To Cossetta's credit, they do offer health benefits and have a 401K match (although it's not clear if the match is for all employees or just full time workers), but shouldn't part time workers, many of whom have second and third jobs, be worthy of the same quality, hourly pay rate? Their doing the same job as the full time employees, but less valued by the employer.
Which brings up what I feel is the real hypocrisy of Cossetta's request for the waiver. This is a restaurant who's legacy and decor is comprised of hundreds of pictures celebrating the Italian immigrant story. The story where a person coming to America can get a job, earn enough money to set some aside so that one day they can open their own business, and with hard work and determination become a landmark within their community. The Italians, as well as many of the immigrants of the 19th and early 20th century ran into many hurdles designed to prevent them from succeeding, but the lessons learned of these immigrating peoples were the lessons we used to draw up the fair labor practices that are supposed to protect the working class today, the same working class this waiver will directly hurt.
I've always liked Cossetta's, but if this waiver is passed, it might be awhile before I travel to St. Paul to visit them. Maybe after their remodeling, when the waiver (if granted) is lifted, I might be able to sit at one of their tables, enjoy a slice of their pizza, and look into the eyes of the first generation Italians whose photos add color to the place, and not feel a tremendous amount of guilt.
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