diff --git a/iobber/chunker.py b/iobber/chunker.py
index 6bdbd426f866ba990bf7daa2eb994e57e00492b3..9f5aac9ef664bd0e8fbdefca6cf0ae179bf67e34 100644
--- a/iobber/chunker.py
+++ b/iobber/chunker.py
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ class Chunker:
 				for tok_idx, _ in enumerate(sent.tokens()):
 					con.set_position(tok_idx) # for WCCL ops
 					feat_vals = [op.base_apply(con)
-						.to_compact_string(self.tagset).decode('utf-8')
+						.to_compact_string(self.tagset)
 						for op in self.layer_ops[layer_idx]]
 					# get IOB2 tags as strings, find non-O IOB2 tag...
 					# ...or mark it O
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ class Chunker:
 				for tok_idx, _ in enumerate(sent.tokens()):
 					con.set_position(tok_idx)
 					feat_vals = [op.base_apply(con)
-							.to_compact_string(self.tagset).decode('utf-8')
+							.to_compact_string(self.tagset)
 							for op in self.layer_ops[layer_idx]]
 					classify.eat_token(model, feat_vals)
 				classify.close_sent(model)