Nursing floor: in Brasilia, managers from all over Brazil pressure parliamentarians for a source of funding
According to the CNM, the update of the salary floor for nurses, technicians and nursing assistants and midwives will result in an impact of R$ 10.5 billion “more” in the municipal coffers. PEC 25/2022 is stuck in the Chamber’s Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ), and the movement of mayors wants to sensitize parliamentarians to guide the proposal in the House.
Paulo Ziulkoski, president of the municipalist entity, criticized the establishment of salary floors for categories without a source of funds to pay for the readjustments being defined. According to him, city halls are unable to afford the values. Ziulkoski also stated that the extra credit of BRL 7.3 billion approved by Congress to pay for part of the floors is insufficient and cannot serve as a basis for the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to overturn the injunction that suspends the payment of the readjustments (learn more below).
“Minister Barroso suspended the law (of the wage floor) until he had the money to pay. Only from August of last year until now, with this injunction, there were R$ 8 billion in savings for municipalities. Now the injunction has been set to vote in the Supreme. The government announced that it has money to pay the floor, so the Supreme can remove the injunction. How barbaric to hear that. What appeal? I’m sorry, a little amount, crap that doesn’t even pay half of the rest of the year. If the injunction is revoked and goes into effect, the next day everyone has to pay the floor”.
Later, Ziulkoski took this and other demands from the managers to the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL). The CNM representative said that Lira promised to discuss a solution for financing the wage floor with party leaders.
To Brasil 61, Senator Efraim Filho (PB), leader of the Union party in the Senate, said that it is necessary to approve a permanent source of funding for the nursing floor. According to the parliamentarian, measures defined at the federal level are strangling the accounts of municipalities.
“There’s no use in terms of teachers, community health agents, nursing – which are fair – without transferring revenue, because it ends up that municipalities will have to move from where they are already tight in order to be able to fulfill these new obligations. Municipalities are ready and prepared to receive new obligations. Now, let them be accompanied by new income, otherwise the account will not close”.
In a nod to the managers present at the event, federal deputy Domingos Sávio (PL-MG) said that he will plead with the president of the CCJ for an immediate vote on PEC 25/2022. “In fact, there was a mistake made in voting on the issue of nursing without it being very clearly linked to the issue of revenue. We need an objective attitude. This is a loss that the municipalities had. They run the risk of reaching the end of this year with the rope around the neck and not paying the 13th”.
Worried Managers
George Duarte, mayor of Santa Maria da Boa Vista, a city located in the hinterland of São Francisco in Pernambuco, says that city halls are not opposed to readjustments for nurses and other health professionals, but that without defining the source of funding and the transfer to municipalities payment is impossible.
“With the increase proposed by the government, we would have to contribute R$320,000 per month and the government was responsible for providing this compensation. But according to the ordinance, we will only receive R$38,000. one year. Our deficit will be almost two million reais. How can we pay that?”, he questioned.
According to the manager, if the impasse is not resolved, there is a risk that part of the services provided to approximately 42,000 inhabitants will be interrupted. “If we have to pay the floor, we will fire the contractors and try to minimize the number of calls. We don’t want to put any employee to work without having money to receive. But for that we have to have the financial support”.
Nilton Debastiani, mayor of Sarandi (RS), estimates that local coffers will need around R$ 100,000 a month to pay the minimum wage, but has not yet received funds from the extra credit approved by the National Congress.
“It is a concern of mine and of all the municipalities, because there is an issue that is still pending in the STF. The municipalities are already in enormous financial difficulty and we cannot take on more charges that we will then have difficulty fulfilling”.
Artur Manoel Nogueira, mayor of Promissão (SP), defended the approval of PEC 25/2022 for the balance of municipal coffers. “This 1.5% will contribute a lot and will also give the municipality a breather in this issue of paying the national nursing floor”.
Understand
In August, former President Jair Bolsonaro sanctioned Law 14,434/2022, which established the national minimum wage for nurses, nursing technicians and assistants, and midwives. According to the norm, public or private administration nurses must receive at least R$ 4,750. As for nursing technicians, BRL 3,325, while nursing assistants and midwives, at least BRL 2,375.
The law aroused concern in state and municipal managers because it did not indicate where the resources would come from to pay the floor of the categories. In the month following the approval of the measure, the National Confederation of Health, Hospitals, Establishments and Services – CNSaúde – with the support of CNM – filed a lawsuit with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) questioning the constitutionality of the law. STF Minister Luís Roberto Barroso responded to the request and suspended the nursing wage floor.
The impasse over the source of funding for the adjustments had a new chapter in April this year when, at the request of the Executive, the National Congress approved a special credit of R$ 7.3 billion in the federal budget for the payment of the minimum salary. According to the calculation of the municipalities, the measure is insufficient because the municipalities would have to pay BRL 3.2 billion in 2023, since the total estimated impact is BRL 10.5 billion, in addition to not predicting how the floor will be financed from 2024.
After the approval of the special credit, the plenary of the STF resumed the trial of the lawsuit filed by CNSaúde. The rapporteur, Luís Roberto Barroso, partially revoked the suspension of the floor. The minister, however, decided that the amounts should be paid by states, municipalities and municipalities only up to the limit of R$ 7.3 billion proposed by the Union. The CNM considers that the measure is positive for city halls.
Second minister to vote, Edson Fachin disagreed with the rapporteur and voted for full payment of wage floors immediately. Then, Minister Gilmar Mendes asked for views. Therefore, the trial is stopped.
During the event, the auditorium made up of managers unanimously approved the idea of municipalities not paying the remaining R$ 3.2 billion to pay for the readjustments until there is a final decision to break the impasse, either by the STF or by the National Congress.
By Brasil 61
