Assembly approves 9% adjustment in regional minimum wage, but delays base date

The Legislative Assembly approved this Tuesday (14), by 47 votes to two, the bill that readjusts the salary floor in Rio Grande do Sul by 9%. With this, the five ranges of the Gaucho floor rise to values ​​between R$ 1,573.94 and R$ 1,994.56, depending on the professional category. Currently, the ranges vary between R$1,443.94 and R$1,829.87.

The floor bands will have the following values: R$ 1573.89 for band 1; R$ 1610.13 for band 2; R$ 1646.65 for band 3; R$ 1711.69 for band 4 and R$ 1994.56 for band 5.

By 32 votes in favor to 17 against, an amendment by deputy Gustavo Victorino (Republicans) was also approved, determining that the base date for the adjustment will be the day of publication of the law approved by parliament. Currently, the base date for the regional floor is set at February 1st. With the change, workers lose the right to retroactive payment amounts for the adjustment.

Even though they voted in favor of the adjustment, opposition deputies criticized the government’s proposal, claiming that the project does not guarantee the recovery of losses caused during Eduardo Leite’s governments. The PT had proposed an amendment that readjusted the floor by 13%, which aimed to recover losses from years in which there was no adjustment. “The policy of devaluing the floor generated poverty and imbalance in Rio Grande do Sul”, pointed out deputy Miguel Rossetto (PT).

Deputy Matheus Gomes (PSOL) recalled that the zero adjustment of the minimum wage in 2020 to this day has had a negative impact on the salary conditions of the population of Rio Grande do Sul. And deputy Pepe Vargas (PT) stated that the salary floor in the Leite government had the worst result in history. “At the beginning of the government, the floor purchased 2.75 basic food baskets. Today, you only buy 1.95”, he compared.

For the Secretary of Administration and Finance of CUT-RS, Antônio Güntzel, the adjustment in the floor is insufficient and occurs 10 months late, which would be the result of government collusion with business federations and a strategy already used last year . “They spent the whole year stalling and only voted on the project in December, with a similar amendment, which also provided for it to come into effect on the day the law was published,” he says.

The only parliamentarian to criticize the regional floor, Felipe Camozzato (Novo) argued that the regional floor would result in an increase in informality and a reduction in employability. He also claimed that the states that do not adopt the floor registered an increase in formal employment of 105% compared to 75% for those that have a regional floor.

Also critical of the adjustment, the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (FIERGS) defended, in a note, that the index granted is above inflation in recent years and does not take into account the retraction of the state’s economy recorded last year. “The position of the Business Federations has always been for the extinction of the Regional Floor. However, we understand that it is an opportune moment to defend the equality between the increases given by the State government in the salaries of public servants to the rates imposed at the state minimum. Amendment presented by deputy Gustavo Victorino goes in this direction and could represent the beginning of isonomy and harmony between the public and private sectors”, says the note.

On the other hand, Pepe Vargas also said that the argument that raising the minimum wage reduces the competitiveness of companies is not sustainable and also compared it with Santa Catarina and Paraná, which grant larger readjustments and, even so, grow and generate more jobs than the Rio Grande do Sul.