But many photoengravers felt the ITU leadership, dominated by typographers, did not adequately represent their interests.
The photo-engravers' strike succeeded, which led many photoengravers' unions to conclude that they no longer needed the protection of the ITU.
The ITU, then the American Federation of Labor's largest member, prevented AFL president Samuel Gompers from officially recognizing IPEU for several years.
Although IPEU only had 2,000 members at its founding, by 1910 the union represented more than 90 percent (7,000) of all photoengravers in the United States and Canada.
In addition, because of the chemical hazards involved in halftone photoengraving, the IPEU was also one of the first unions in the country to compel employers to establish health and safety standards.
Although challenged under federal antitrust laws, the courts refused to strike down the agreement as an unfair trade practice.
Woll had been elected a vice president of the AFL, and his duties with the national union were taking up more and more of his time.
The merger of IPEU and the lithographers' union was the first official recognition that this consensus was changing in the face of industry pressure, globalization and technological advances.
On July 1, 1983, IPGCU merged with GAIU to form the Graphic Communications International Union (GCIU).