He attended public school until he was 13 years old, when he quit to become an office boy and then clerk for the Milwaukee Road railway line.
McFetridge's candidacy threatened to split the union, as several BSEIU board members were aware of Burke's extensive and close ties to organized crime.
George Scalise, president of a small BSEIU local of window washers in New York City and the international's representative on the East Coast, emerged as a compromise candidate.
[3][4] McFetridge was elected president of the international union in 1940 after Scalise was indicted and convicted of bribery, embezzlement and labor racketeering.
He also undertook a large-scale organizing program, expanding out of the union's traditional base in apartments and office buildings and into airports, nuclear power plants, hospitals, and schools.
Although a close ally of Teamsters president Dave Beck, he was also a strong advocate of strict financial practices and worked to cleanse AFL-CIO unions of labor racketeering.
[8] McFetridge was a strong advocate of the Marina City mixed-use development in Chicago, which he believed would provide numerous jobs for Local 1 members.