The Audit the MLC Doesn’t Want You to See
The MLC bosses’ war on Transparency and Accountability puts city workers and retirees at risk
The Municipal Labor Committee’s (MLC) reaction to The City’s reporting on Comptroller Brad Lander’s audit of the NYC Health Care Stabilization Fund has been swift — and deeply troubling. Rather than engaging with the substance of the audit or explaining why the full report remains unpublished, MLC leadership circulated an internal memo framing The City article as a “breach of trust” and attacking the very act of scrutiny.
In their scathing letter to other MLC union leaders, they call the audit “false and biased” while oddly pinning it on the Comptroller’s staff and not Lander himself. They also admit to lobbying to “correct” the audit, or having it “deferred” for the next mayoral and comptroller administration to roll out.
As The City reported, in response to questions about the audit, MLC Vice-Chair and DC 37 union president, Henry Garrido, said the MLC leadership found the audit deeply flawed, calling it a “ a political stunt” and insisted that many of the claims in that report are simply incorrect. The article quotes Garrido charging that the Comptroller’s team failed to understand the Fund’s purpose and governance, asserting that the critique “demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding.” Yet, more than a week after initial reporting, the Comptroller’s office still has not released the full audit for members or the public to see.
Instead of addressing these serious fiscal and governance questions, MLC leaders focused on vilifying the messengers. Their circulated memo warns against “surreptitious” recordings and seems more intent on policing internal speech than answering why the audit hasn’t been published, why members were not briefed transparently, or how the MLC will protect retiree healthcare dollars facing unsustainable cost spikes.
For educators, city workers, and retirees across New York, the MLC’s response has only deepened frustration and skepticism. On social media and in union spaces, rank and file voices have connected the dots between this secrecy and the larger, long-simmering problems tied to the Health Care Stabilization Fund and the welfare reserves that support it.
As The Wire: Educators NYC has reported, the Fund was weaponized with threats that it would “dry up” under the current contribution structure, even as healthcare costs continue to rise for active workers and retirees alike. For those who rely on these benefits — whether they are still in classrooms, hospitals, or sanitation garages, or long retired — this is not an abstract budget debate. It is about access to care, out-of-pocket costs, financial security, and the erosion of trust in institutions meant to safeguard their health after a lifetime of public service.
Meanwhile, union members have been shut out entirely from accountability and transparency with the MLC and their welfare funds. No rank and file or retiree voices at the table. No unfettered, regular access to minutes of meetings. No itemized financials. No direct, meaningful communications to all vested in their activities.
The Heart of The Matter: The Purpose of the NYC Healthcare Stabilization Fund and Transparency
The heart of the conflict lies in whether the Health Care Stabilization Fund has been used for the purpose for which it was originally created—and that question sits squarely at the center of the Comptroller’s audit now being withheld from public view. The 1986 agreement establishing the Fund is unambiguous: it was created as a joint City–MLC trust to equalize healthcare costs, absorbing differences between negotiated insurance rates and protecting workers and retirees from sudden spikes tied to marginal cost increases. It was designed to stabilize benefits, not to subsidize unrelated fiscal priorities.
Over time, however, the Fund appears to have been repurposed—tapped to finance retroactive wage increases, plug City budget holes, used to seed or pad existing welfare funds, and increasingly weaponized as a warning device, with its “looming depletion” cited to justify healthcare givebacks imposed on city workers and retirees. What began as a negotiated shield against volatility has been transformed into a lever of pressure—and that transformation was a choice, written not by accident, but by those entrusted to safeguard the Fund’s original purpose.
Another big issue is whether decisions were made with union members consent and whether the Tri-Partite Committee established in 2014, consisting of MLC and UFT lawyer, Alan Klinger, arbitrator Martin Scheinman, and an Office of Labor representative made unilateral decisions without consulting or allowing for other members of the MLC to deliberate and vote on pressing matters.
More Transparency and Accountability is Needed
What is notably absent from the MLC memo is any reassurance that the Stabilization Fund has been managed properly, or that the Comptroller’s concerns are unfounded. There is no timeline for the audit’s release, no commitment to engage directly with rank-and-file members on these issues, and no acknowledgment of the interconnected welfare funds — including those tied to the UFT and DC 37 — that have also been subject to scrutiny and pressure. When union leadership treats external oversight as betrayal, it deepens the credibility gap between officials and the workers they represent.
This is more than a transparency issue; it goes to the heart of public trust. Workers and retirees have sacrificed, contributed, and built systems meant to protect their families’ wellbeing — only to be left in the dark about decisions that could reshape their health coverage and financial futures.
A Call to Action: Demand Transparency, Accountability, and Increased Oversight
This moment requires more than frustration — it requires coordinated action. Public money, worker benefits, and retiree healthcare are not private union secrets. They are public trusts that demand scrutiny, clarity, and accountability.
What You Can Do Today/This Week
Please take a moment to reach out to elected officials and oversight agencies to demand the release of the full audit and the start of appropriate oversight or investigation.
Suggested message to officials:
I am writing as a city worker, retiree, and taxpayer who depends on the integrity of New York City’s public-employee healthcare system. Recent reporting about the withheld audit of the Health Care Stabilization Fund raises serious concerns for active workers and retirees alike — especially as healthcare costs rise and benefits are reduced or restructured. This Fund exists to protect the healthcare of the people who keep this city running and those who have already given decades of service. Delaying or disputing an audit without making it public undermines trust and leaves workers and retirees in the dark about decisions that directly affect their care and financial security. I urge your office to ensure the immediate release of the full audit by the NYC Comptroller’s Office and to take whatever additional oversight or investigative steps are necessary to protect public funds, worker benefits, and municipal employee and retiree healthcare.
We suggest sharing the articles from The City and The Wire in your communications with officials.
You can use the sample message provided to contact:
NYC Comptroller’s Office — demand immediate publication of the full audit.
NYC Public Advocate — ask them to use their oversight powers to push for release, hearings, or inquiries.
New York State Attorney General — request an independent investigation into the Fund and related welfare funds.
New York State Comptroller — ask for coordination and oversight where state and city financial matters intersect.
U.S. House Representatives & New York State legislators — insist on accountability and transparency for municipal workers and retirees.
U.S. Department of Labor — raise concerns about the fiduciary management of joint city labor healthcare funds and need for transparency
Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and Comptroller-Elect Mark Levine —ask them to also call for the release of the existing Stabilization Fund audit without delay or changes
It’s time for rank and file city workers and retirees to fight back and demand better.
Related:
“The Fund Is About to Dry Up”: Why NYS and Feds Must Audit the UFT Welfare Fund
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When Geoffrey Sorkin, Executive Director of the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund, gave sworn testimony before the New York City Council civil service and labor committee in 2021, his warning was unmistakable.
Comptroller Auditing Troubled Health Benefits Fund for City Workers
This article by Claudia Irizarry Aponte was originally published on DEC 22, 2025, 4:59 AM EDT by THE CITY.
This is a letter written by people who have a lot to hide, and they're hiding it from the union members they claim to represent.
This is ugly. Thanks for revealing what's going on with a critical tax-funded audit that's been long-awaited, pertaining to a health fund that impacts so many lives; a fund that, in itself, involves taxpayers. This audit should never be controlled by those it investigated. Brad Lander must not win another public office seat if he refuses to release the findings. You bet I'll be writing to all the officials you provided. Thanks for making this easy.