Metro

Oh, weld! Axed worker, 72, sues

He could run but couldn’t hide from union inspectors — and it got him fired, says a 72-year-old Brooklyn welder.

Thomas Coleman worked for nearly a decade at Mayer Malbin, a century-old Queens plumbing supplier.

Under union rules, the Leffert Gardens resident and class-B welder could only do maintenance work at Wedco Fabrications, Mayer Malbin’s College Point subsidiary.

But for eight years he worked as a class-A welder — and was told to “run into hiding whenever union members visit,” says a suit he recently filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

In August, an inspector caught him and he was fired “immediately,” says the suit — which also claims he was cheated out of pay and benefits because he was black.

An anonymous Mayer Malbin owner said only that “we don’t do welding here.”

Wedco did not return a message seeking comment.