Nursing floor: Dasa changes positions of technicians – 07/13/2023 – Market

Amidst the debate on the new nursing salary floor, the Dasa network changed the nomenclature of the positions of technicians and assistants in the category in the work portfolio, according to SinsaudeSP (the union that represents these workers in São Paulo) and Coren-SP ( Regional Council of Nursing of São Paulo), which received complaints from company employees. The change generated insecurity in some of these professionals, who say they do not know if they will receive the new remuneration.

wanted by Sheet, Dasa confirms that it changed the nomenclature of the positions. It says, however, that the change has no effect on compensation, employee benefits or eligibility for the floor. The company says it will pay the floor to professionals who perform private nursing activities, technicians and nursing assistants.

The MPT-SP (Ministry of Labor in São Paulo) opened a civil inquiry in May to investigate the case. According to the organ, there is a hearing scheduled for August.

On condition of anonymity, three employees who work in Dasa’s laboratories told the report that, in March of this year, the company changed the name of their occupations —previously described as nursing technician— to technician in clinical pathology.

“It is a continuous organizational process of suitability and standardization adopted by companies in all sectors, which applies to several areas in addition to healthcare. For example, it can occur as a natural movement after the integration of new operations. In the last three years , we made 61 CBO changes [Classificação Brasileira de Ocupações] and more than 15,000 people were added to the staff. Among these adaptations, none of them is related to specific nursing functions”, writes Dasa in a note.

According to James Santos, counselor at Coren-SP, with the change, technicians and nursing assistants may be prevented from performing certain procedures. If they do, it is illegal to exercise the profession, he explains.

“They are hired as technicians or nursing assistants and, due to the approval of the salary floor, they are placed as collection technicians or clinical analysis. [Isso] mischaracterizes the figure of the nursing assistant”, says Santos.

From January until last Thursday (6), Coren-SP says it received 40 complaints accusing Dasa of changing the position in the employees’ work booklet without any type of notice, changing the role of nursing technician and assistant from nursing to technician in clinical pathology or collection assistant.

In addition to the complaints against Dasa, the council also registered three other complaints of a similar nature. Two of them refer to changing or hiring nursing technicians and assistants in positions with different nomenclatures, such as pathology technician and regulation analyst. The third complaint, in Ribeirão Preto (SP), accuses an ILPI (Long Stay Institution for the Elderly) of dismissing nursing technicians who worked in assisting the elderly to be rehired as caregivers. Coren-SP does not disclose the names of the companies involved.

At SinsaudeSP, more than 60 associates denounced Dasa, according to the union’s president, Jefferson Caproni. “They changed everyone’s work permit overnight. They didn’t hold an assembly with the workers. This change of nomenclature is illegal because it is unilateral. It is a fraud.”

According to lawyer Carlos Balaró, from the Marzagão Balaró office, the change made by Dasa could harm the CLT. “Nomenclature changes in the employment contract can be made as long as they are effectively reality. I cannot do this as a subterfuge to escape the nursing professional’s floor”, he says.

wanted by Sheet, the Ministry of Labor and Employment stated that the matter should be dealt with by the council or the trade union. “The CBO only indicates the certifications for each category. If there was illegality in the change, the category must activate the Council or the union”, said the folder in a note.

Sanctioned by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in August last year and suspended by the STF the following month, the new national nursing floor generated confusion in the sector. The law did not indicate the cost of wages, which provoked a reaction from employers against the measure.

The National Congress enacted, in December, the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of Nursing, which directed resources towards payment. The text defined that the category floor should be funded by the financial surplus of public funds.

In May, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sanctioned a bill that released BRL 7.3 billion in special credit to help states, municipalities and the Federal District in implementing the measure. Soon after, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), reestablished the minimum wage for nursing.

In judgment in the plenary, the ministers of the Supreme Court determined that, for workers in the private sector, there should be collective bargaining. If the parties do not reach an agreement after 60 days of publication of the minutes of the judgment, the floor will be valid as provided by law.

Law 14,434, passed last year, defines that the base salary for nurses will be R$ 4,750. Nursing technicians should receive 70% of this amount (R$ 3,325); and nursing assistants and midwives, 50% (R$ 2,375).