Senate approves PEC that creates salary floor for community health workers

The Senate approved this Wednesday (4) a proposal for an amendment to the Constitution that establishes a minimum wage for community health workers of two minimum wages – currently R$2,424.

The proposal was approved in the first round with 72 votes in favor and none against – 49 votes were needed.

In the second round of voting, there were 74 votes in favor and none against. As it had already passed through the Chamber of Deputies, it goes straight to promulgation.

The PEC that establishes the floor for the category was included in the plenary agenda hours after being approved by the Constitution and Justice Commission. The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), accepted the request of the rapporteur of the proposal, senator Fernando Collor (PTB-AL), for the proposal to be included in the agenda of the plenary.

Hundreds of community agents attended the Senate, following the vote both in the CCJ and in the plenary.

The proposal creates a salary floor for the category and also determines that salaries for professionals will be paid by the Union. The resources for these payments must be included in the budget with their own specific allocation. Estimates by legislative consultants point to an impact of R$ 3.7 billion for public coffers.

Government leaders present at the session did not guide the base parliamentarians on how they should position themselves in the vote. On the other hand, the leader of the PL, the party of President Jair Bolsonaro, Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), favored the proposal.

It is also foreseen that the remuneration values ​​of these agents will not be included in the calculation for the purpose of capping personnel expenses.

The text approved by the senators also determines that professionals will be entitled to receive additional unhealthy and to grant special retirement, considering the risks faced in the exercise of activities.

The proposal’s justification explains that community health agents and agents to combat endemic diseases “exercise hard work, from sun to scorching sun, from rain to rain, going up hills and down hills. All this added to the permanent contact with residents, sometimes carriers of infectious-contagious diseases”, states the text.

States and municipalities can also create other remuneration installments, such as advantages, incentives, aids and bonuses.

The proposal’s rapporteur, Senator Fernando Collor, recalled that the community agents program is more than 30 years old and that professionals have never had their rights recognized. At the national level, the creation of the category took place during his term as President of the Republic.

“It is through these agents that the poorest population receives guidance on appropriate behaviors to preserve health, as well as information on risks of diseases and epidemics. It is unimaginable to think about implementing public health policies without the participation of these professionals”, says Collor in your report.

“They, in fact, are essential to the health of Brazil! It happens that these agents do not receive remuneration compatible with the importance of their activities for our society. Brazil, after 30 years of the creation of the program, still does not provide the treatment that these professionals deserve”, he added.

Senators spoke during the session praising the approval of the floor for the category.

“The approval of this proposed amendment to the Constitution enshrines some basic guarantees for the more than 400,000 community health workers and agents to combat endemic diseases currently existing in our country, whose importance has become even more evident in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic”, said the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco.

“Not infrequently, these professionals carry out their activities without the proper conditions and without the ideal equipment for the work they perform, often having to travel to needy, isolated and even dangerous communities. It is essential that the Brazilian State manages to keep these professionals in their jobs, receiving fair wages and minimally consistent with the vital importance of their duties”, he added.

Senator Paulo Paim (PT-RS) also highlighted the performance of the category during the pandemic of the new coronavirus. “This PEC does justice to this category that is at the forefront of serving the population. Who listened to them during the pandemic? Who did not see them during Covid-19, often without adequate equipment, visiting house by house, guiding the population, helping in vaccination?”, he asked.

Last year, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) vetoed an item in the budget law that provided for a salary readjustment for community health workers. However, the veto was overturned in December.