The CCJ (Commission on Constitution and Justice) of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved the admissibility of the PEC that establishes the national salary floor for nurses, technicians and nursing assistants and midwives. The PEC was prepared and approved to provide legal certainty for the national level of the category.
A bill providing for the minimum wage for nursing had already been approved by the National Congress. However, the proposal was not even forwarded by the Chamber of Deputies for presidential sanction, as there was fear of a veto by Jair Bolsonaro (PL) or even of lawsuits. This was because there was a risk that the proposal could be a defect of initiative.
The text of the PEC determines that a federal law will establish the national salary floors for nurses, technicians and nursing assistants and midwives. In other words, it allows the previously approved bill to have legal conditions to be applied.
The project creates a floor of R$ 4,750 (US$ 920) for nurses. Nursing technicians would receive 70% of this amount, and nursing assistants and midwives, 50%. According to the proposal, the value will be adjusted annually based on the INPC (National Consumer Price Index).
In the Senate, as happened during the approval of the bill, parliamentarians recognized that there is still no solution to finance the costs of the new national nursing floor, but only pointed out possible sources.
Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil - AP) said that "inevitably" the release of the gaming sector in the country will be one of the sources of the new floor. The speech generated a great discussion between parliamentarians for and against the activity.
"There is even a proposal in this House, because the bill that authorizes gaming in Brazil will inevitably be a source of revenue not only to meet the floor because we have insurance there, in the transfer of the FPM (Fund for Participation of Municipalities) and from the FPE (State Participation Fund) for the states, more than R$ 6.5 billion (US$ 1.25b) more," he said.
Alcolumbre could be made official as the rapporteur of Bill 442/91, which deals with the regulatory framework for gaming in Brazil and which was approved in the Chamber of Deputies earlier this year. Shelved by the Senate president, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), the bill may be processed again, although there is no deadline for voting on the matter in Plenary.
Source: GMB
