by JENNIFER FERMINO
The city's black firefighter fraternal order is joining the U.S. Justice Department in suing the FDNY over the written hiring tests they say discriminate against minorities.
The Vulcan Society says the SAT-style test has little to do with fighting fires and has prevented many black and Latino applicants from getting the jobs they deserve.
The society yesterday intervened on the side of the government in the suit, filed in Brooklyn federal court in May - putting them at odds with the Uniformed Firefighters Associations, which has filed an affidavit defending the city.
"If the union really cared about safety they would want a validated test that gave a proven measure of whether someone would be good on the job," Vulcan Society President John Coombs said at a press conference.
The city calls the lawsuit "misleading" and has vowed to contest it "vigorously" in court.
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