Effectiveness of the nursing salary floor still faces resistance

Nursing professionals face resistance to the effectiveness of the salary floor, after the Federal Supreme Court (STF) released, on the last 15th, the payment. The argument of employers’ organizations and municipalities is a lack of resources which, consequently, would generate unemployment for the professional segment.

However, for economist Marilane Teixeira, professor and researcher at the Center for Trade Union Studies and Labor Economics (Cesit), linked to the Institute of Economics at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), the establishment of wage floors brings remarkable advances since it takes the valuation of occupations and improves income from work. it was very evident in the pandemic, people were fundamental and were among the professionals who lost their lives the most, precisely taking care of the lives of other people ”, she evaluated.

“We reached, both in the case of the nursing floor and in other categories, a certain level in relation to what is a value, a fair price, for the workforce based on the recognition that it is essential and necessary work . In the case of nursing, it was very evident in the pandemic, people were fundamental and it was the professionals who lost their lives the most, precisely taking care of other people’s lives, “he evaluated.

The release of the payment was made by Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, of the STF. However, the minister understood that states and municipalities should pay the national nursing floor within the limits of the amounts they receive from the federal government. For professionals in the private sector, the possibility of collective bargaining is foreseen.

The minister’s decision was handed down after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sanctioned the special credit opening of R$ 7.3 billion for the payment of the floor. The measure was published on Friday (12), International Nursing Day.

Historically, employers have tended to resist paying one of the minimum wages. “This pressure from employers is historic. We’re talking about the relationship between capital and work, so anything that implies an improvement in terms of salary remuneration will always encounter some resistance from the other side in terms of complying with the conditions,” he said.

“The more organized, more structured categories were actually the ones that innovated the most in this sense, because as they had more negotiating power, they also imposed salary floors with values ​​relatively higher than what is practiced in terms of salary. minimum”, he said, adding that the minimum wage is an important reference, especially for categories that are not so organized.

The researcher points out that there are categories formed predominantly by women, as is the case of nursing, which leads to greater difficulty in social recognition of the value and function of these professions. “It’s an idea that ‘a nurse is a caregiver’, so it’s a function that women are born knowing and don’t need much training to perform something that is innate. So why pay high wages for a job they were born knowing how to do? But it is not true, it is a fundamental area, ”she added.

Unemployment

The researcher also stated that there is no evidence to show that the achievement of minimum wages was related to unemployment, extinction or reduced demand for a certain type of occupation. “This is pressure from those who obviously resist, they have always resisted any advance in terms of rights, because it is not just on the floor, it also manifests itself in other rights. Every time you advance a certain right, there is always the pressure that this will generate unemployment, ”she said.

According to her, what will determine the generation of unemployment in a category is the assessment that a certain occupation has lost its meaning from the social point of view and, therefore, has been re-signifying itself and creating other functions with similar jobs that can replace it. “It depends on demand and not necessarily on compensation,” she said.

Valor

The new floor for nurses hired under the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) regime is BRL 4,750, as defined by Law nº 14,434. Nursing technicians receive at least 70% of this amount (R$ 3,325) and nursing assistants and midwives, 50% (R$ 2,375). The floor applies to workers in the public and private sectors.

Data from the Federal Nursing Council account for more than 2.8 million professionals in the sector in the country, including 693,400 nurses, 450,000 nursing assistants and 1.66 million nursing technicians, in addition to about 60,000 midwives.

employers

The National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM) considers the measure to be an “illusion”. In a note, the entity stated that “the sanctioned amount does not pay a third of the floor of the health professionals who work in the municipalities. In addition, it is a resource only for 2023, not permanent for ongoing expenditure, does not bring regulations on the form of distribution and transfer, and is intended only for specialized care professionals, leaving out primary care professionals, such as those who attend the Family Health Strategy.”

Confederation data show that the municipalities have more than 589,000 nursing jobs in their staff. According to an estimate by the entity, the impact of the floor on municipalities will be R$ 10.5 billion this year. “However, Law 14,581/2023 was limited to allocating BRL 3.3 billion to local entities, despite being the municipal sphere that absorbs the greatest financial impact with the institution of the floor”, says the note. Also according to the entity, with the validity of the measure, there is a risk of dismissal of more than 32,500 nursing professionals.

The Brazilian Federation of Hospitals (FBH) reported that it regrets Barroso’s decision. “The decision came without being presented, as requested by an injunction issued by the minister himself, solutions to minimize the impact of costs with the readjustment in the private network”, he said, in a note. The entity points out that the Bill signed by President Lula is intended only for public hospitals, which does not resolve the impact on the private network, estimated by the FBH at more than R$ 7 billion annually.

The entity adds that, although São Paulo, Minas and Rio account for 48% of the total number of nursing professionals, it will be the Northeast that will be most impacted. “The region with the most states in the country will have to deal with a 40% increase in costs, as 84% ​​of professionals in the category earn below the stipulated floor. States like Maranhão and Pernambuco even have 90% of contracts below the stipulated floor.”

The president of FBH, Adelvânio Francisco Morato fears for the 4.2 thousand affiliated establishments, mainly the small and medium-sized ones, which represent 70% of the total. It is estimated that there will be a 30% reduction in the nursing staff in hospitals with up to 100 beds.

“The government, at no time, showed concern in establishing funding sources. With this, hundreds of hospitals will close their doors, and the country will register an increase in unemployment, in addition to precarious access to health services in the interior”, evaluated Morato. According to him, the private network accounts for 62% of the approximately 1.3 million nursing professionals in the country, and 71% of small establishments are outside the capitals.

Workers

For the counselor of the Federal Nursing Council (Cofen), Daniel Menezes de Souza, the release of the floor by the STF “represents the realization of what we have always defended, that the floor is constitutional, that there are resources for financing the public sector and that concretizes as a step in the conquest of social recognition for our profession”.

Regarding the lack of resources to pay the floor, he explained that during the course of the project in the National Congress, the technical teams used official data, with studies carried out by the Inter-union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), to calculate the financial impact of the amount needed to complete what was left to reach the floor equivalent.

“These amounts were released by the Union, so there is no justification for the payment not to take place. For the private ones, the floor must also be paid, however from the 1st of July. As for collective bargaining, we understand that it is part of the minimum rights already guaranteed in the protection of the worker, and the value established by law that creates a floor is one of these guarantees”, he said. For each year, the amounts must be included in the law that establishes the Union’s Budget priorities – the LDO, which is approved annually.

Menezes points out that the argument around layoffs was used when there was no defined funding source and that these jobs are essential to guarantee productivity in these services. “We understand that, with the creation of the fund established in Constitutional Amendment 127 and the consequent availability of resources in the Union Budget and confirmation of transfers by the Ministry of Health, there is no justification for maintaining this speech.” He also states that, for the for-profit private sector, the payment of the floor represents, on average, less than 5% of its revenues.

The president of the São Paulo Regional Nursing Council (Coren-SP), James Francisco dos Santos, considered the measure “a great relief and great justice”, emphasizing that the minimum wage is a right for which the category had been fighting for decades .

“The nursing salary floor is not new and the whole movement, despite initiatives to the contrary, denoted that it would be approved. It is a fair recognition of the work carried out by the largest workforce in Brazilian health and has always enjoyed great popular support. Therefore, the management of health units can be carried out in order to reorganize their finances and direct the necessary investment to comply with the salary floor”, evaluated Santos.

Regarding the risk of layoffs, pointed out by the employer sector, he states that nursing is one of the most promising professions for health, that its presence is essential in institutions, and a cut of professionals in the area would pose a threat to the quality of care provided. . “In the case of collective bargaining by private institutions, what we hope is that the values ​​provided for in Law No. 14,434 are respected, as they are the result of extensive negotiations that were carried out over the years also with representatives of the private sector”, he highlighted.