On September 30, workers at Chasen Fiber Technologies closed their factory for what appears to be the last time, ending over 60 years of history with UE. The company was bought out in 2024 by Integreon Global, who decided to close the plant in November 2024. Integreon then reopened the plant in April 2025, claiming they would “try and make things work.”
During their time in UE Chasen workers have never shied away from aggressive struggle, even when all the odds were stacked against them.
In early 1963, Chasen employees formed the Chasen Employees Independent Union and threw out the corrupt International Union of Doll and Toy Workers. Workers then applied to affiliate with UE in April and officially voted to join UE in June 1963.
Originally workers had sought to join another AFL-CIO affiliated union. The NLRB ruled the issue as “a jurisdictional dispute” and asked the AFL-CIO to issue a ruling. AFL-CIO president George Meaney and the jurisdictional board ruled that Chasen workers had to stay with the Doll and Toy Union. When the independent union filed for an election, the NLRB ultimately ruled that there was no contract bar because of the “collusive relationship between the employer and union,” as the UE NEWS reported at the time.
Chasen workers ultimately reached a first agreement in October 1963 after months of stalling and a six-day strike. The strike forced the owner to sit down and begin to seriously negotiate. The union won a 15-cent raise for the first year, union shop provisions, an additional holiday and about three additional vacation days. During the strike, “other unions appeared on the scene hoping to cash in. But the strikers held firm, not a one scabbed.”
Since the mid-2010s, Chasen workers were forced to give various concessions due to the company’s poor financial health. In 2018, a strike threat was able to move the owner off a year one wage freeze, gaining a 25 cent raise in year one and a 75 cents in year two and three. In 2020, the Union confronted a decertification campaign that saw the owner withdraw recognition. Workers ultimately decided to stay with UE by a decisive margin. Another strike threat in 2021, even after this decertification campaign, saw workers win a $1 raise.
In 2024, Integreon only gave a two-day notice that they intended to close the plant, and only gave the union notice a few hours after workers notified them of their intent to bargain a successor contract. Within those two days, workers organized various actions ranging from marches on the boss demanding bargaining times and an online letter-writing campaign which resulted in the hundreds of letters being sent to Chasen and Integreon managers.
Since reopening in April 2025, the union had spent six months bargaining with the employer over a successor contract. Chasen, emboldened by Trump and “managing the Company directly for the first time,” sought to gut 95 percent of the contract. The lead spokesperson repeatedly attacked the bargaining committee, stating that the workers were too dumb to understand how loans worked. The employer also demanded that the union provide economic proposals, even though the parties had reached agreement on less than a quarter of non-economic issues.
In the face of the company closing again, the workers still decided to fight. Fed up with the treatment and progress at the table, workers shut off their machines and marched with the bargaining committee to present their economic demands. While the work stoppage only lasted about 20-30 minutes, the company understood the message. They understood that message even better when 100 percent of the plant signed up on strike pledges. Workers also organized various t-shirt and sticker days throughout bargaining.
Local 155 was able to maintain the existing hours and overtime protection, 12 holidays including the employee’s birthday, and flexibility for the six paid personal days. They were also able to get the company to withdraw their onerous proposed PTO system and strike-clause language which prevented the workers from picketing and having inflatables, and expanded the right to strike over failure or refusal to implement arbitration decisions.
The Local 155 bargaining committee consisted of Chief Steward Carlos Quinones, Freiser Avila Bencalzar, and Elicio “Joaquin” Salas. They were assisted by Field Organizer Eric Cortes-Kopp. Local 506 President Scott Slawson and Business Agent John Miles provided valuable advice.