The Senate plenary approved this Thursday (2), in two shifts, the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) 11/2022, which gives legal certainty to the national salary floor for nurses, nursing technicians, nursing assistants and midwives. . The PEC now goes to the Chamber of Deputies.
The matter, which was proposed after senators and deputies approve PL 2.564/2020, authored by Senator Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES), which provides for a minimum initial floor for nurses in the amount of R$ 4,750. According to the proposal, this will be the minimum remuneration to be paid nationally for public and private health services. In the case of other professionals, the text sets 70% of the national level of nurses for nursing technicians and 50% for nursing assistants and midwives.
As it was approved by the National Congress without a guaranteed source of funds, to avoid legal uncertainty and non-compliance with the floor, Senator Eliziane Gama (Citizenship-MA) presented the PEC approved today. Without this, the payment of the floor could be suspended by the courts, on the grounds of defect of initiative. According to Eliziane Gama, the PEC approved today replicates the constitutional arrangement made for the national minimum salary for teachers, expressly provided for in the Constitution and regulated by ordinary law.
According to the Federal Nursing Council (Cofen), the salary floor for the category is a historic struggle that can correct disparities in remuneration. Data presented by Cofen highlight that more than 1.3 million professionals will directly benefit from the measure, as they receive less than the amounts established in PL 2,564/2020, 80% of which are mid-level workers, the vast majority of whom are nursing technicians.
