The hadronic decays eta, eta-prime -> 3 pi and eta-prime -> eta pi pi are investigated within the framework of U(3) chiral effective field theory in combination with a relativistic coupled-channels approach. Final state interactions are included by deriving s- and p-wave interaction kernels for meson-meson scattering from the chiral effective Lagrangian and iterating them in a Bethe-Salpeter equation. Very good overall agreement with currently available data on decay widths and spectral shapes is achieved.