Former ERC MPs denounce Pilar Vallugera in the party for workplace harassment

BarcelonaLack of respect, shouting, reproaches in the organization, disdain for the work of colleagues or bad faces to fit in maternity leave. This is what they report to The Country that former Esquerra MPs suffered from the current Republican parliamentarian in the Congress of Deputies, Pilar Vallugera, who has been reported to the party for alleged workplace harassment. Vallugera, on the other hand, declares that she is not aware of all this. And she denies it: "I have not mistreated." From the party, consulted by the ARA, they emphasize that they have acted with "guarantees": ERC has opened a file when it learned of the facts and it is in the hands of the person responsible for compliance, although - they emphasize - they have not directly addressed those affected in a personal complaint and there is no complaint in the courts either. Likewise, they clarify that Carolina Telechea, Gabriel Rufián's number two in Congress in the previous legislature, did present a document to the party's ethics commission last July denouncing the facts.

In any case, the complainants consider that the party did not act with diligence, according to El País. "ERC did not take care of my mental and physical health," says former MP Maria Dantas, who adds that they only became interested in her when she resigned in November 2023. It was then that they contacted the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, who assures that "he is the only one who has asked for forgiveness," and the then secret.

The facts

One of the episodes recounted in the document provided by Telechea, El País details, is one recounted by Dantas: Vallugera, in the context of the debate on the trans law, argues loudly with the deputy Dantas in her office. "This law is not going to be passed, we are not going to register it. You will have Gabriel Rufián, Carolina Telechea, Ramón Soldán, but I have the feminism of the party," he shouted at her, pointing at her with his finger and blocking her path after giving a transphobic speech, according to the witness. Various sources, he reports The Country, they confirm that Vallugera was shouting at her through the offices. This document also compiles situations suffered by the parliamentarian and others that she knows firsthand, which describe alleged mistreatment of deputies and temporary staff, who, according to the accusations, Vallugera did not respect their schedules and overloaded them with work.

Dantas is not the only one who describes a conflict with Vallugera over the trans law. Another deputy, Inés Granollers, also asked for relief in the area of the housing law because she did not understand the Esquerra parliamentarian and accuses him of also despising her work.