PRO (GOVERNMENT)

GERLIE
Good morning to the respected speaker, cautious time keeper, honorable judge,
members of the opposite team and members of the floor. Before I put forward my case today, I
would like to define today’s motion ‘This house believes that minimum wage should increase.
According to the Investopedia, minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can
legally pay their workers. Equivalently, it is the price floor below which workers may not sell their
labors. Increasing the minimum wage can be part of a comprehensive poverty-reduction
package in developing counties like ours, the Philippines.
Today I as the Prime Minister will be the 1stspeaker of the government and will present
the main argument. We, the government strongly believes with the motion minimum wage
should increase because It raises the standard of living for impoverished workers especially if
that worker is one of the heads of low-income households. Raising the minimum wage helps
level the playing field in our capitalist society. It lifts up the lowest-earning among us and gives
them more resources with which to build a better life. It empowers them to live better lives and
make better financial choices, and it starts to liberate them from the vicious cycle of poverty.
Imagine the people from poverty level could afford the resources they need and even put a
better future for their family. This will be a stepping stone for them to change the way of their
living.
Raising the minimum wage would even lead to a healthier population and prevent
premature death. A 2014 Human Impact Partners study by Rajiv Bhatia, MD, found that raising
wage would significantly benefit health and well-being. The study found that those earning a
higher minimum wage would have enough to eat, be more likely to exercise, less likely to
smoke, suffer from fewer emotional and psychological problems and even prevent premature
death every year.
A 2014 study by the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) found that
minimum wage workers are more likely to report poor health, suffer from chronic disease, and
be unable to afford balanced meals. The study concluded that policies that reduce poverty and
raise wages of low-income people can be expected to significantly improve overall health and
reduce health inequities.
Workers yearns for a decent wage for a decent day of work. This additional income can
enough for a person to sustain its needs and wants. That’s why there should be an increase of
minimum wage. Thank you
QUENNIE
For our second argument we strongly believe that Increased of minimum wage help improve
economy.
If workers receive a pay increase, then there will be a rise in consumer spending. Since they
have saved themselves from poverty, low-income workers are likely to have a higher marginal
propensity to consume (in other words they spend high % of extra pay). This could also cause a
multiplier effect, with higher spending causing knock-on effects to elsewhere in the economy;
this should help boost economic growth.
An increase in the minimum wage will help the economy because it will increase the purchasing
power of the workers. That will in turn increase the demand for goods and services. Apart from
that, an increase will motivate the workers to do more and by so doing, there will be positive
impacts on the economy.
It will help the actual global economic crisis in all living and prosperity aspects for the whole
world, specially to our country & all citizens of Philippines. Imagine the future for our children &
new generation to come? Therefore, we must act now before is too late. This will be just the
starting of a right decision to avoid the worse global economic collapse. We have all the
sources, technology, and brains to do it. But without capital and strong private investors we
won’t success. We must move forward for a better decent surviving life and better future.
Raising the minimum wage increases consumer spending and boosts the economy. A study by
Dong Hll and David Cooper estimated that an increase in the minimum wage would increases
the earnings of low-wage workers and result in a significant increase in GDP and employment.
A raise in the minimum wage predominantly benefits low-wage workers, precisely those most
likely to put additional income directly back into the economy, kick starting a virtuous cycle of
greater demand for goods and services, job growth and increased productivity.
Increasing the minimum wage would signify or would mean that there is a significant growth of
the economy. since the economy would describe the generated income of an individual or the
totality and increasing it would be a great help for the people since, we are experiencing inflation
rate. The goods that entrepreneurs were selling are somewhat expensive. because of the said
inflation rate. though we can attest that there are low skilled people, they still deserve to
experience the increase of the minimum wage because people rely on their income daily in
order to feed their needs and some of their wants. but on the other hand, if you would protest
about their low rated skills, we do believe that practice makes perfect. they can join and do
workshops, seminars and any other events that could mold and nourish their skills This is a
matter of survival. In order to survive you must work hard if you want to get the desired income
you want. and therefore, let's not make it a problem and hindrance in increasing the minimum
wage.
So, if the minimum wage increases it will be a good sign of improvement of the economy of the
Philippines. Since, it can help the people from the lower class to avail and somehow enable
them to buy their wants after they have saved from poverty.
BORJY
Increased of minimum wage positively affects the workers.
People are often motivated by money. The salary a worker is paid by his employer can have a
great influence on his performance in the organization.
A worker is more likely to perform to his potential and if he’s happy with the salary he’s earning.
A person’s earning having a high salary feels motivated to do a good job, because he wants to
please his employer to retain his position. His salary brings him a feeling of security, allows him
to feel accomplish and gives him a high-status ranking that he enjoys. According to Zeynep Ton,
a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, research has shown that an employee
satisfied with his pay is more productive and motivated.
In Job satisfaction levels This employee is more likely to be satisfied with his job and not feel to
need to look for a similar position with better pay. However, an employee who doesn’t feel like
his organization is paying him a high enough salary is much more likely to look for and accept a
higher paying position of a comparable nature at another company.
It could also have an Impact on retention rates where workers stay loyal to his employer. When
a company doesn’t pay its employees well the general office morale is low. Many workers may
need to get second job to make end meet, which leaves them tired, overworked and resentful.
Performance rates are typically low as workers feel little motivation to exceed standards and
absentee rates tend to be high. Employee turnover in these companies is often very high as
people don’t want to work for a company paying below industry standards.
According to a report by the EPI, a wage hike would boost the economy, spur economic growth
and increase jobs for workers. Employees would benefit as would businesses and even the
government. The report states that in three years' time, a minimum wage increase would raise
the government’s net revenue.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 45% of hourly workers making minimum wage
are between 16 and 24; the rest are full-time workers who use this income to live. This means
that those who would benefit from an increase are not just young adults looking to make money
at their first job. The majority of workers making minimum wage are adults with children and
families. Raising the minimum wage would give these people more flexibility to spend money on
things they need, boosting economic growth and encouraging an upward trend.
In addition, raising the minimum wage will give more value to the federal minimum wage itself.
It’s apparent that the federal minimum wage hasn’t kept up with inflation since the 1960s, and
raising it would finally put it on par with what workers should be making and can afford to live off
of.
SHEENA
As an opposition whip, to summarize everything, our team believes that increasing minimum
wage would reduce poverty for the reasons that it raises the standard of living for impoverished
workers. Resulting to sustain the needs and wants of the people It lifts up the lowest-earning
among us and gives them more resources with which to build a better life. And eventually
according to Rajiv Bhatia the increase of wage lead to healthier population and prevent
premature deaths every year. Another argument is that it will help the economic growth because
workers will increase its purchasing power. It will turn to increase the demand for goods and
services that will be a positive impact on the economy because they will purchase more. Lastly,
workers are often motivated by money. An increase of salary could have a great influence on
worker’s performance in the institution. And could also lead to worker’s retention and a high
level of job satisfaction. When employees are paid a livable wage, they are innately more
invested in the company and work in which they are engaging. They put more effort into their
work. They get more done. There are fewer miscommunications and less struggle to get
employees to complete their tasks. An increased minimum wage pushes employee to prove
their worth and work harder, increasing productivity.
There could be a possibility of layoff among employees, but living is like a battle that you need
to survive. In order to survive you have to improve your skills. Practice makes perfect and there
are many opportunities in the real world. Another is the Inflation, it always happens but the
solution to that is to reduce the spending is important during inflation, because it helps halt
economic growth and, in turn, the rate of inflation. Also, there are many ways to fightback
inflation like saving up electricity, Invest in Goods or Commodities such as gold, oil, and metals.
Historically, the prices of commodities rise greatly during an inflation and you stand to benefit
from that trend if you purchase commodity stock at a low price and sell it during the height of
inflation when its price is much higher, Earn extra cash and etc.
The human cause of doing so is great. Nobody should live in poverty – especially someone who
works hard for their money. We strongly believe that what our house believe is the solution for
what our country’s issue mainly facing today, the Poverty. In 2015, some 22 million Filipinos—
more than one-fifth of the population—still live below the national poverty line. If this poverty
level would decrease, this would result to boost our economic growth. And by the Government’s
plan on reducing poverty using the Development Plan 2017-2022 this would create a huge
positive impact on achieving its goal. Therefore, there should be an increase the minimum wage
in the Philippines.
To end my speech, a quotation from Robert Reich says that “The only way to grow the economy
in a way that benefits the bottom 90 percent is to change the structure of the economy. At the
least, this requires stronger unions and a higher minimum wage.
CONS (OPPOSITIONAL)

GERLIE

Increased of minimum wage does not help poverty.

In theory, if the wage increase is large enough, poor people’s income will rise, lifting them out of poverty
sounds good but it does not always happen in practice. This is because the relationships between
minimum wages and depth of poverty are complex. Firs, the minimum wage does not affect all the
workers or affect them equally.

Businesses may freeze new hires, limiting opportunities for recent college graduates and others entering
(or re-entering) the job market.

QUEENIE

Inflation.

Government should not increase minimum wage. Unfortunate as it sounds, the minimum wage will
cause a drop in the job market. If a major retailer had to raise their wages for their workers, they would
have to get the money from somewhere. That means a raise in the price of goods and the laying off of
positions could be replaced by automated systems. The repercussion of this is an increase in demand
and a lowering of supply. There would be an increase in the price of goods and services. Another part of
this argument is the fact that minimum wage is not meant to be enough to sustain a person.
According to Ed Rensi, a higher minimum wage would not only kill existing jobs but also result to closing
a substantial number of small business, from 15% to 20%. In theory, raising the minimum wage forces
business owners to raise the prices of their goods or services, thereby spurring inflation. In actual
practice, however, it is not so simple since wages are only part of the cost of a product or service paid
for by consumers. A higher minimum wage can be offset by heightened productivity by workers or
trimming down a company’s manpower.

BORJ

The government should not raise the minimum wage. Sadly, raising the minimum wage will hurt the
smaller business especially small, independently owned stores that cannot afford their employees more
than the minimum is now. The National Retail Federation found in a survey that 37% percent of retailers
would see serious threats to their ability to continue operating. Most of the people that are voting yes
are the one being paid the minimum wage, but what about the people paying it? The employer? It is
easy to say you want more when you’re not the one paying the cost. Now think about this. If a business
has 3 people working for it, and it is a very small business, but the people want to be paid more. So they
start getting people to protest and then the minimum gets raised. The business can no longer pay all 3,
so they tight their budgets and fire one to remain solvent. Now that person wanted more, has nothing at
all. This is precisely what happened in Detroit. Detroit was known for having amazing cars. But after a
while the people in Detroit wanted the wage to be higher, so they made the car companies pay them
more. In the end the companies could not afford to pay them, so after laying thousands of people off,
they eventually moved to a place where the minimum wage was lower, to prevent shutting down. His
completely crashed the economy. So wanting something but not paying the costs is not all fair. And if
you want to be paid more that much, go get a higher income job.