When you step into the Nuclear Medicine unit at Kings County Hospital, you’d think you’ve just entered a time warp. It’s hard to imagine that this bright, ultramodern facility exists within the dreary brown walls of this aging trauma hospital in Brooklyn.

In fact, many of New York City’s public hospitals are outfitted with state-of-the-art diagnostic medical equipment available anywhere; and Kings County’s radiology department possesses an impressive array of the newest and most sophisticated technology, a hospital spokeswoman acknowledged.

However, when it comes down to personnel matters, Local 237 members who perform x-rays, mammograms, CAT scan and MRI procedures in NYC’s public hospitals say they are not impressed.

Although they are as qualified and hold the same licenses as their counterparts in private hospitals, the city’s x-ray technicians earn considerably less. They also do not enjoy the opportunity to focus their skills in one particular area of this specialty. “We do everything," said James Young, who works in the CAT scans/Angiogram unit at Kings County and is Associate Supervisor of Radiography Level 1. “In private hospitals radiographers focus in one area of radiography, it could be mammography, CAT scans, ultrasound or MRIs and they earn more than we do. City radiographers do it all — mammograms, CAT scans, x-rays, MRI you name it."

Throughout the city hospital system, the x-ray tech departments have been chronically short staffed, and hospital administrators have been increasingly relying on per diem workers to provide coverage — a move that effectively undermined the salaries of the system’s permanent and experienced staff.

“You can get someone come out of school, the ink not yet dried on their license, making more than $36,000, more than a staff member who has been there for years," declared Local 237 Shop Steward Idamae Campbell, a radiographer at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. “We have a lot of per diems. They run the place. If we have 10 people here, I am the only civil servant. The last Civil Service test was given in 1985."

Campbell, Associate Supervisory Radiographer, Level II, is perhaps the most experienced employee in her unit and is one of those who have to train the new hires.

“The problem is the city’s salary is so low that people do not want to work for the city in the tech titles," Local 237 Business Agent Janie Elliott explained. However, for the members who stays with the city, like James Young — who has been on the job for nine years because it’s close to home and allows him more flexibility with his family life — there is little reward, but a great deal of frustration.

Campbell said she knows that private hospitals would pay a lot more for her skills but she has stayed at Lincoln “because I love doing what I do." The new hires, she added, “stay two years, if that long. They get the experience and they are gone. It’s like a revolving door."

“The city pays so low that even the agency they contract with [for per diem workers] can’t find anyone who wants to work here," Marie Stines fumed after learning that Kings County had recruited newly-minted radiographers at salaries one level above her own. Stines, who was recently promoted to Associate Supervisor Level 1 and performs mammograms and x-rays in the Emergency Room, has been with the hospital for seven years. “A lot of people who came after me have left because the pay is no good," she said.

If private hospitals are paying a premium for experienced radiographers, it’s partially because these technicians put out a lot of money for classes to upgrade their skills and keep up with the technological advances in the industry. James Young said he takes evening classes and attends as many seminars and conferences as possible to acquire the 24 continuing education credits he needs every two years to keep his New York State and national licenses. The New York license is subject to renewal every two years and the national one must be renewed annually.

Young added that even though the technicians must have those continuing education credits, and techs need advanced certification to perform CAT scan procedures, the city’s tuition reimbursement program is inadequate and frustrating. “If you go to a conference you must fill out a whole bunch of papers before they reimburse you, and even then you’re not reimbursed 100 percent."

To get any justice at work, the radiographers say they have had to file one grievance after another. A case in point: Three years ago six members at Kings County Hospital filed an “out of title" grievance after they agreed to assume the work and responsibility of associate supervisor titles believing they had been promoted. When the corresponding pay increase did not show up in their paychecks, the members cried foul and notified the union.

“Management said they made a mistake and then they demoted us," James Young said. “So we filed a grievance to get our titles back. They gave us the promotion in November 2001, but they still didn’t give us the money, so the grievance is still in the works."

Young’s unit is currently one of the few not overrun by per diems. Local 237 members in the CAT scan/Angio include Ramon Anicete and Sennen Sotillo, Associate Supervisor Level 2, who has been with Kings County since 1982; Pedro Santiago, Pedro Rodriquez Renna Johnson, Adam Latif, Kirk Diaz, Harold Persaud, Virginia Howell, Ibra Ranna and Harrison Copland — all Associate Supervisors Level 1.

Being a shop steward for the tech titles is not easy, Campbell acknowledged, but admits she enjoys the challenge and the opportunity to become more involved with the union. Radiographer Anabel Howell, who was recently promoted to Associate Supervisory Radiographer, finds herself stepping into the role of mediator every time an issue flares up in her department. Campbell said she tries to stay ahead of the problem by reaching out as much as possible to speak with members where they work “rather than waiting until I see them in the hallway. Members don’t realize that the union has no way of knowing what they are going through until they bring it to the union’s attention. I try to encourage them to attend union meetings where they can bring up all these issues."