The Chamber of Deputies concluded this Wednesday (13) the vote on the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) that creates a national salary floor for nurses, technicians and nursing assistants and midwives.
The text was approved by 473 to 9. In the first round, voted on Tuesday (12), the PEC had been approved by 425 to 7 — it needed at least 308 votes to pass. Only Novo oriented a vote against the text. As there were no changes of merit, the proposal goes on for enactment.
An agreement reached by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), to speed up voting determined that the first round would be voted on on Tuesday and the second only after the PEC that expands social benefits in an election year, sent for promulgation this Wednesday. .
The text was approved in a symbolic vote in the special commission last Thursday (7). The initial idea was for the vote to take place on the same day, after the analysis of the PEC that expands social benefits. With the postponement of the vote, both were for this Tuesday.
The purpose of the PEC is to provide legal certainty to a bill that provides for the minimum salary for these professionals. The proposal has already been approved in Congress, but the Chamber of Deputies has not yet led to presidential sanction, as there was fear of a veto by Jair Bolsonaro (PL) or even lawsuits.
This was because there was a risk of the proposal being framed as an initiative defect, when one Power advances over the prerogatives of another in the presentation of legislative or constitutional changes.
Therefore, the text of the PEC determines that a federal law will establish the national salary floors for nurses, technicians and nursing assistants and midwives. That is, it allows the previously approved bill to have legal conditions to be applied.
The project creates a floor of R$4,750 for nurses. Nursing technicians would receive 70% of this amount, and nursing assistants and midwives, 50%. According to the proposal, the value will be adjusted annually based on the INPC (National Consumer Price Index).
According to the PEC rapporteur in the special commission, deputy Carmen Zanotto (Citizenship-SC), nursing is the largest professional category in the field of health in Brazil. The parliamentarian mentioned that the category is composed of 1.8 million professionals, 85.1% belonging to the female sex.
“Covid-19 has definitively revealed the importance of the SUS and of all health professionals, who have spared no effort on the front line of facing the pandemic, causing, unfortunately, due to the precarious and unhealthy conditions, the death of 872 valuable professionals in the nursing area, with irreparable losses for hundreds of families”, he said, in the justification of the project.
Deputies, who analyzed the financial impact of this change, predict an increase in spending on personnel in the order of R$ 16.31 billion per year, considering public and private health institutions.
Despite the PEC, there is still no solution to finance the costs of the new national nursing floor.
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