Bolsonaro must sanction nurses’ floor, but without automatic readjustment

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) is expected to sanction, this Thursday (4), the national salary floor for nurses, technicians and nursing assistants and midwives.

The proposal was approved last month by Congress and the government has been pressured by the health bench for the Planalto Palace to sanction the text.

Bolsonaro, however, must veto the section that provides for the automatic annual readjustment of the salary floor. The project foresaw that the value would be corrected every year by inflation, as measured by the INPC.

The proposal creates a monthly floor of R$ 4,750 for nurses. Nursing technicians must receive 70% of this amount, and nursing assistants and midwives, 50%.

The president told supporters in recent days that the trend was toward sanctioning the bill. The measure pleases the largest category in the health area less than two months before the election.

The sanction of the project should take place during a ceremony at Palácio do Planalto this Thursday (4).

After analyzing the project, government officials concluded that a measure is not necessary to compensate for the increase in expenses with the creation of the floor for nurses.

According to technicians, the project would not create a permanent expense for the Union, as the professionals are hired as if they were outsourced or already receive above the created floor.

Therefore, the government would not need to create new revenue or cut spending to offset the project sanction.

To pass the floor, Congress had to vote on two projects. One of them is a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) whose objective was to make it clear that a bill would deal with the salary floor for the category.

This is because, without the PEC, there was a risk of the project being legally questioned, since it could give rise to the interpretation that one Power advances over the prerogatives of another by proposing a salary value for the floor.

Therefore, the text of the proposal determined that a federal law establishes 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.

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 projects approved by Congress, the proposal was sent to the Planalto Palace without presenting a solution to finance the costs of the new national nursing floor.

According to the rapporteur, deputy Carmen Zanotto (Citizenship-SC), municipalities will have until the end of the year to adjust the 2023 Budget with the floor value of the category.

She met with the president of Congress, Senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), to ask for support for the approval of proposals that could increase the collection and, thus, compensate for the increase in expenses, with the creation of the floor.

On the possible veto of the annual readjustment of the salary floor, the deputy said that, if confirmed, she will continue defending the measure, but that she considers the sanction of the floor to be an advance. “Victory can be in stages,” she said.

The CNM (National Confederation of Municipalities), in turn, said it was against the creation of a floor without indicating a source of funding. “In addition, the CNM questions a national floor without considering local realities,” he said in a note.

The entity mobilized intensely with parliamentarians and government members to try to stop the measure, which is contrary to the interest of municipal managers.