Nursing: Toffoli’s proposal can “transform floor to ceiling”, according to expert

The Federal Council of Nursing (Cofen) disagrees with the points presented and believes that the minister’s vote will not prevail. The vice-president of the Council, Antônio Marcos, contextualizes the application of the norm and the position of the category regarding Minister Toffoli’s vote.

“There is a federal law that defined a national floor, and any position contrary to that violates a basic principle of law, which is the hierarchy of norms. So we are going to wait for the other votes — we have the favorable vote, which was from Minister Fachin —, to see, as a whole, what measures can be adopted ”, he said.

Public budget specialist Cesar Lima comments that the one proposed by the minister does not take into account what was defined by the National Congress and poses serious risks to the category. “It will turn the floor into a ceiling, because from the moment it refers to overall compensation and not the base salary, it will become a ceiling. So it’s very dangerous, these two suggestions by Minister Toffoli practically destroy the nursing floor. And it can be very complicated for the categories to accept that, “he reinforced.

Toffoli’s proposal

In his vote, Toffoli presents two new points. The minister argues that “the implementation of the salary floor should occur regionally through collective bargaining carried out in the different territorial bases and on the respective base dates, with the negotiated prevailing over the legislated, in view of the concern with possible dismissals and the essential nature of the health Service”.

Toffoli also voted for the STF to establish that “the minimum salary refers to the overall remuneration, and not to the base salary, corresponding to the minimum amount to be paid according to the full working day, and the remuneration may be reduced proportionally in the case of heavy load less than 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week”.

The theme is still under analysis in the virtual plenary until 23:59 on June 30th. However, if there is a new request for a review or a secondment, the trial will be suspended again.

tip view

Entity representing the cities, the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM) estimates that 65% of the cities will receive insufficient resources to pay for the nursing floor. According to studies carried out by CNM, at the municipal level alone the financial impact of the measure will be around R$ 10.5 billion per year. Sought to comment on Minister Dias Toffoli’s position, the Confederation replied that it will wait for the end of the trial to pronounce on the subject.

For the mayor of Colina (SP), Dieb Taha, most city halls largely depend on federal resources. And they need a change in the transfers so that they can fulfill the obligations related to the nursing floor. Among them is PEC 25/2022, which aims to increase the transfer by 1.5% of the Municipalities Participation Fund (FPM) in March of each year and guarantee a permanent source for the cost of the nursing floor.

“Even more so in this difficult time that we are going through, not only with the nursing floor, but also the education floor, in short, it is a very important revenue that we need this work together with the municipalities of our Brazil so that we have a greater collection and better so that we can meet all the demand in the municipality”, he comments.

Proposed values

In August last year, former President Jair Bolsonaro sanctioned Law 14,434/2022, which established the national minimum wage for nurses, technicians and nursing 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.