Challenges of approving the nursing salary floor in the Amazon

The proposal for a salary floor for nurses was approved in May 2022, by 449 votes to 12. Despite the approval, the application is suspended by decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF). Local representatives, secretariats and the Regional Nursing Council (COREN) comment on the challenges and importance of this measure for nurses in Amazonas.

The Federal Government is articulating a Provisional Measure (MP) to define the operationalization and application by law. The president of COREN, Sandro André, the social mobilizations articulated by the council showed good results.

“The President of the Republic reaffirmed his commitment to paying the floor during an event in Bahia, the Ministry of Health met with nursing leaders, explained the progress of the provisional measure and published an explanation of the next steps regarding the floor. All this from yesterday to today ”, he said, referring to last Tuesday (14).

The reason for these embargoes is explained by the State Department of Health (SES). According to the advisory, the decision needs to be taken by the STF for application in the States.

“If the Supreme Court approves, in the 3 instances, the statute will be reviewed within each class, server, outsourced and private. If, by national order, the Supreme Court requires all states to change, when it comes to Amazonas, it will still be up to the governor to analyze it, ”he explains.

Initially, according to the original PL, the floor would be R$7.315, the amount proposed by the author, Fabiano Contarato (PT), senator of Espirito Santo. After review, the amount approved is BRL 4,750 for nurses, where 70% of this amount goes to nursing technicians, and 50% to assistants and midwives.

According to the COREN presidency, the amount is not appropriate, but it was realistic for the floor to come out of the bill.

“It would not have been the original value proposed by Contarato, which the category considers ideal, but it was an unenforceable value for the public power. Negotiations were made, and this value was arrived at with an annual readjustment. However, when the law was sanctioned, the president vetoed the readjustment article of the approved law, and now this veto needs to be overturned by the National Congress. There has not yet been a deliberative session, but it is expected that there will be this demolition after the execution of the floor”, he said.

The nurse, Vânia Ferreira, who works at the 28 de Agosto Hospital and Emergency Room, also does not consider the amount fair for the class.

“This value needs to be reviewed in the future, and we still need to keep fighting for the 30 hours a week. I believe that the measure can be approved soon, due to class pressure. If it weren’t for that, they would delay more”, she says.

In the council’s analysis, the mobilizations made exist to define the allocation of resources for the payment of the floor. However, this decision is still part of the national scope.

“We are under this pressure so that the government and city halls start paying the floor. However, today, specifically in Manaus, the government and city hall even pay beyond the proposed floor. The measure will be much more efficient for city halls where there are nursing professionals who receive two thousand and three hundred reais for 44 hours of work. And also mainly for those who work in private companies”, he emphasizes.

Economist Denise Kassama also noted the need to readjust the state government budget to include nursing, in view of the problem of outsourcing the activity in cooperatives, which end up poorly remunerating the professional.

“There needs to be a provision in the budgets so that it can accommodate this floor, and most likely a rearrangement in the budget, for the State to be able to pay. It is evident that the governor had no budget for this MP, and now he will have to fit in, and be able to honor with these professionals who are fundamental, a category that works to save lives and need to be valued “, complete.

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