Health Ministry to pay new nursing wage floor

Nursing workers during a protest in front the Health Ministry building, in Brasília. Photo: José Cruz/ABr

Brazil’s Health Ministry will retroactively pay public sector nurses the new minimum wage from May, the government office said in a statement last week.

In August of last year, Congress established a new minimum wage for nurses of BRL 4,750 (USD 989) a month — but the Supreme Court suspended it amid uncertainty over how public hospitals would pay for these increased payroll costs. After months of uncertainty, the top court ruled earlier this month that public hospitals must pay their nurses the new wage floor, although those run at state- and city-level can do so up to the limit of extra funds provided by the federal government.

(Private health providers, meanwhile, must negotiate with unions, but if no agreement is reached within 60 days, the new wage floor must be paid.)

In a statement dated July 14, the Health Ministry said it is “committed to swiftly implementing the national nursing wage floor, retroactively from May.” The new floor will be paid in nine installments and calculated from the value of base salaries and general fixed bonuses, in line with guidelines emitted by the Solicitor General’s Office.

A working group involving the Health Ministry, Public Sector Management Ministry, Planning Ministry, Solicitor General’s Office, and Comptroller General’s Office will be responsible for designing the methodology for passing on funds to relevant bodies and overseeing the implementation of the wage floor at a national level.