Born in Itapuí, Felicio became a butcher at the age of fifteen, but then trained in the arts and in 1973 became a teacher of drawing.
In 1987, he was elected as president of the APEOESP, and his time in office encompassed an 82-day strike in 1991 which led to teachers' salaries more than doubling.
[1][2] In 1993, Felicio stood down from his trade union office to return to teaching, but the following year, he was appointed to the executive of CUT, on the nomination of the APEOESP.
He led CUT's work on education and pensions, the International Labour Organization and human rights.
From 2007, he represented CUT on the board of the International Trade Union Confederation, becoming vice-president, and then serving as president from 2014 to 2018, the first Latin American to hold the post.