Four hours after beginning the process for negotiating a new union contract with their employer, members of UE Local 155 at Chasen Fiber Technologies in Irvington, NJ were notified that their parent company, Integreon Global, intends to shut down their plant effective this Friday.

“They gave us 12 hours notice that they are shutting the plant down,” said Chasen worker Edgar Cango. “There are staff that have worked here for 30 or more years. All of these folks are without jobs.”

While New Jersey has a law requiring that companies pay severance when they close a plant, the Chasen facility’s small size exempts it from the law. Workers, however, believe that Integreon, a highly profitable global company, has the resources to pay them severance.

“We are asking the company to come to the table and give these guys an equitable deal,” said Daniel Cosme, another worker in the plant. “We are asking at least for severance pay for those of us that have given half of our lives to this company, but they are refusing to even meet with us.”

Workers marched on the boss on October 31 demanding that the company meet with the union to negotiate severance pay, as well as discuss the company’s future plans for the facility. Workers are also concerned that the company is trying to bust their union by shutting down the plant and then re-opening it with non-union labor.