The Brazilian Supreme Court was set to resume this Friday a trial on whether nurses around the country are entitled to a higher minimum wage. The new nursing floor (BRL 4,750, or USD 981 a month) was approved by Congress last year but has been heavily litigated.
Three weeks ago, Justice Luis Roberto Barroso lifted an injunction that had suspended the new floor for over six months, saying public sector nurses should be paid immediately and private sector nurses should negotiate with their employers in time to start receiving their new salary on July 1. The full court must weigh in on Justice Barroso’s ruling by June 23, although today’s online trial was adjourned at the request of Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
The law has been questioned because lawmakers — in a push to win popularity points before the October 2022 elections — passed the new minimum wage without creating new funding sources or providing for compensatory measures so that public and private health operators can afford the bill.
The government recently earmarked BRL 7.3 billion in extraordinary credits for the Health Ministry to bump nursing wages for public and philanthropic hospitals, but how local administrations will fund these costs in the future remains uncertain. Private operators, for their part, are fighting tooth and nail to escape the new wage floor and are threatening to carry out massive layoffs as a means to offset higher personnel costs.
Meanwhile, officials in Germany are hoping to lure Brazilian health workers away.
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