Government allocates R$ 7.3 billion for national nursing floor

2023-05-12 18:57:15

New base salaries apply to nurses, technicians and nursing assistants, as well as midwives

PAULO CARNEIRO/PHOTOPRESS/STADÃO CONTENTNurses, technicians and nursing assistants from the State of Rio de Janeiro protest on the steps of the Municipal Theater

The federal government published the Law No. 14,581, of May 11, 2023which sanctioned the national nursing floor and released a budget of R$ 7.3 billion for the payment of new salaries, in Official Diary of the Union. The bill had been approved on April 26 by the National Congress, allocating resources to states and municipalities to finance the payment of the floor. From now on, the new base salary for nurses with a work permit is BRL 4,750, while nursing technicians will receive 70% of this amount (BRL 3,325), and nursing assistants and midwives, 50% (BRL 2.375). The measure impacts 693,400 nurses, 450,000 nursing assistants and 1.66 million nursing technicians, according to data from the Federal Nursing Council.

According to the Ministry of Health, there are 60,000 midwives throughout Brazil, contributing to 450,000 births per year, being responsible for about 20% of births in rural areas, a percentage that doubles in the North and Northeast regions. The new law was enacted on International Nursing Day, the date that honors Florence Nightingale, born on May 12, 1820, a pioneer in the treatment of war wounded. Her work, revolutionary and advanced for its time, is considered a milestone in the professionalization of modern nursing.

According to the president of the Union of Nurses of the DF, Jorge Henrique de Sousa, the sanction of the Bill that guarantees the opening of special credit in the 2023 budget is another important step in this journey towards the definitive implementation of the nursing salary floor. “Along with the edition of the Ordinance of the Ministry of Health, which regulates the transfer of funds to states and municipalities, the two requirements demanded by the Minister of the STF, Luiz Roberto Barroso, will be fulfilled, there being no more reasons for maintaining the precautionary measure that suspends the effects of the wage floor. We can say, therefore, that Nursing professionals had another great victory and are very close to having the minimum payment in their paychecks”, he explains.

Debate

Approved by the National Congress in August last year, the lei nº 14,581, from 2023 was suspended by the Supreme Court (STF) until the government indicates a paying source for the floor, to serve, in particular, the public sector. However, the private sector still opposes compliance with the floor.