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The approval of the new teachers’ salary floor in the Senate reignited the dispute in Congress for salary adjustments for other categories. Doctors, dentists, social workers, street sweepers, military police, and firefighters have proposals in progress, but the advancement hits the same question: where will the money come from to pay the bill.
The Federal Senate approved on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, the adjustment of the national salary floor for teachers of basic education, which rises from R$ 4,867.77 to R$ 5,130.63 this year, an increase of 5.4%. The measure now goes to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) for sanction, but the most immediate effect of the vote was political: it reignited the demand from various categories wanting their own adjustment.
In the Congress backstage, the interpretation is that the approval of the teaching salary floor can unlock projects stalled for years. Doctors, dental surgeons, social workers, street sweepers, military police, and firefighters are in line, with proposals ranging from about R$ 3,000 to over R$ 13,000, depending on the profession and workload. The obstacle, however, is the same as always: finding a funding source to cover the expense.
The teachers’ salary floor and the domino effect in Congress
The measure approved by the Senate originated from Provisional Measure 1,334/2026, converted into Bill of Conversion 4/2026 after changes in processing. Besides setting the new value, the text changes the way future increases are calculated: the annual adjustment will now be the sum of the INPC with half of the average real growth of Fundeb revenues in the previous five years. According to the rapporteur, Senator Professora Dorinha Seabra (União-TO), the old rule would yield a correction of only 0.37% this year, and the new one guarantees 5.4%, with real gain above inflation.
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The side effect was immediate. With the teaching salary floor on track, other categories began to press for similar votes, and the Senate now accumulates about twenty proposals on salary floors. Parliamentarians intensified the pressure on the House President, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), to bring the texts to the agenda. The assessment circulating in Congress is that opening the gate for one category makes it harder to hold back the others.
Doctors and dentists aim for a salary floor above R$ 13,000
Among the projects that have advanced the most is PL 1.365/2022, authored by Senator Daniella Ribeiro (PSD-PB). The text proposes a minimum wage of R$ 13,662 for doctors and dental surgeons for a 20-hour weekly schedule, with annual correction by the IPCA, additional pay for night work, overtime payment, and break rules during the workday. The proposal applies to both the public and private sectors.
The argument of the defenders is that the minimum remuneration for these categories has been frozen for decades, based on a 1961 law that set the current minimum at R$ 3,636. The proposal has already received approval from the Senate’s Social Affairs Committee and still needs to go through stages before proceeding to the Chamber of Deputies. The expected funding would come from the National Health Fund, but the size of the impact is precisely one of the points stalling the discussion.
Social workers and street cleaners also join the queue
Social workers are closely monitoring the movement. A project already approved by the Chamber’s Constitution and Justice Committee proposes a minimum wage of R$ 5,500 for the category for a 30-hour weekly schedule, with an annual adjustment linked to the INPC. The text still needs to advance in the next stages of processing before becoming law.
Street cleaners are also on the list. PL 4.146/2020, which has already passed the Chamber, creates a minimum wage of R$ 3,036 for street cleaners and garbage collectors who work in sweeping and garbage collection in cities, and now awaits analysis by the Senate. Together, these two projects help explain why the topic has returned with force: they affect professions with very different profiles but share the same demand for appreciation.
Police officers and firefighters want a minimum wage in the Constitution
Military police and military firefighters also advocate for the creation of a national minimum wage, but through a more difficult path. The idea originated from a legislative suggestion approved by the Senate’s Human Rights Committee and was transformed into a proposed constitutional amendment, which will still be analyzed by the House’s Constitution and Justice Committee.
This format makes the adjustment of these categories more time-consuming. A constitutional amendment requires approval in two rounds, with a high quorum, in the Chamber and the Senate, unlike a common bill. In practice, this means that, even with political support, the proposal tends to take longer to process than others.
The usual knot: where does the money come from
If there is relative consensus on the importance of valuing these professions, the main barrier remains funding. Davi Alcolumbre stated that he intends to gather party leaders to discuss where the resources will come from, as, according to him, many proposals point to the same sources of revenue to cover different expenses, which requires a more careful analysis before taking the texts to the plenary.
In the case of teachers, salaries are mainly funded with resources from Fundeb, supplemented by the Union when necessary. Even so, states and municipalities claim that revenue does not always keep up with the increase in expenses. The account of the new teaching floor illustrates the size of the challenge: estimates presented during the processing point to an impact of up to R$ 6.4 billion per year, if all entities fully comply with the rule.
Nursing has become the portrait of the impasse
The case of nursing is the most cited example when discussing the risks of approving a floor without defining funding. The 2022 law set a minimum remuneration of R$ 4,750 for nurses, R$ 3,325 for technicians, and R$ 2,375 for assistants and midwives, but the Supreme Federal Court suspended the application because there was no clearly defined source of resources.
The situation was only unlocked after Congress approved a constitutional amendment authorizing federal transfers and the government opened a special credit of R$ 7.3 billion to fund the measure. It is this recent memory that makes parliamentarians and the Senate president himself apply the brakes: approving the adjustment is the easiest part; ensuring payment year after year is what usually stalls.
The queue of professions waiting for a national floor is long and covers very different realities, from street cleaners to doctors.
But the question that runs through all the projects is the same: is it worth approving the adjustment before knowing exactly where the money will come from, or does this only postpone a problem that will explode later on? Tell us in the comments which category you think deserves priority and if you believe these floors will materialize.
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