After sustained fight, Brazilian healthcare workers win broad wage increase from industry giant Hapvida

Belo Horizonte, Brazil – Last week, a nearly three-year struggle culminated in victory when workers represented by the Healthcare Workers Union of Belo Horizonte and Region (SINDEESS), an affiliate of UNI Global Union, reached an agreement with Hapvida, Brazil’s largest private healthcare provider.

For years, Hapvida had resisted complying with the National Nursing Minimum Wage, enacted in 2022, proposing to extend the timetable for raising wages to compliance level and pay a small bonus. The company had also paid non-nursing staff at a level below the national minimum wage when calculated for those who worked on the “12 x 36”schedule (a 12-hour shift followed by 36 hours of rest).

SINDEESS members at the Octaviano Neves Maternity, Lifecenter, and Vera Cruz Hospitals, and several clinics have made their demands in assemblies, demonstrations, and marches. In recent months, the intensity of the actions has increased:

• In December 2024, a petition was delivered with the participation of more than 500 workers, demanding a serious negotiation to implement the National Nursing Minimum Wage and bring the company into compliance with the hospital sector collective bargaining agreement, paying agreed-upon compansation for both nursing staff and other workers.

• In 2025, workers at the Octaviano Neves Maternity Hospital took the initiative and organized their own actions, including a petition and several days of protests

• In April and May, meetings and demonstrations involving hundreds of workers took place, reaching the point of work stoppages at the Octaviano Neves Maternity Hospital

After years of resistance, this week the company Hapvida offered an agreement whereby the Nursing Minimum Wage will be implemented in the case of nursing technicians and assistants, reaching 100 per cent of the minimum by December 2025 – a main demand of the union – compliance with the minimum wage in the case of other workers, and a 5.2 per cent increase in salaries and benefits.

“It was only through collective action that workers were able to change the company’s attitude,” said Cleusa Lopes, a Hapvida employee at Lifecenter Hospital and member of SINDEESS’ Board of Directors. “It’s great that Hapvida has finally come to the negotiating table in a serious way – it wasn’t easy, and so we will continue to mobilize to ensure that they keep their word.”

“We congratulate the sisters and brothers of SINDEESS for this great achievement,” said Lucia Lindner, Regional Director of UNI Care Americas. “Hapvida workers should be proud, because they have secured an agreement with one of the richest and most powerful companies in the history of the country. In the world of private healthcare, collective action is necessary to ensure that companies take into account the well-being of their own workers.”

SINDEES and UNI also participate in the national campaign “Healthcare is Not a Commodity,” which aims to negotiate with the company over the problems of understaffing, managerial harassment, and the use of technology to speed up work – recurring situations at the company’s facilities throughout the country.