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The origins of this institution are related to the industrialization process in Portugal. The refusal of a journalist to report the tobacco workers' life conditions eventuelly led to the foundation of the newspaper A Voz do Operário (The Worker's Voice), on October 11, 1879. Prior to this, in 1870 tobacco workers had founded the Associação União Fraternal dos Operários da Fabricação do Tabaco (Fraternal Association of the Tobacco Manufacturing Workers Union).
To sustain the newspaper, the cooperative A Voz do Operário was founded on February 13, 1883. According to the deed of incorporation, the copperative aimed to 'sustain the publication of the newspaper A Voz do Operário', but also to 'study how to solve the great problem of workers, seeking by all legal means to improve their conditions from the economic, moral, and hygienic points of view [...; to] establish schools, reading offices, an economic fund, and all that, in line with the nature of this kind of societies, and with the circumstances of the fund, may contribute for the education and well-being of the working-class in general, and of the partners in particular' (A Voz do Operário, February 18, 1883).
At the request of its members, in July 1883, the Society extended its activity to funeral assistance. In 1889, considering the increase and diversification of associates and purposes, the bylaws were revised, turning the 'Cooperative Society' into a 'Society of Instruction and Charity'. The objectives of the latter were to “[c]ontinue the publication of the newspaper A Voz do Operário, founded in 1879; [to a]cquire a house for the company's headquarters and its dependencies; [to e]stablish one or more day and night classes, and libraries; [to a]ssist Associates and their Families with the funerals and subsidies' (edited version of 1913).
In 1891, the first school was founded by the scociety. The school was free of charge and was intended for the members' male children aged from 7 to 9 years. The number of schools founded by and through the society increased over the years: from 3 schools in 1894, 69 schools in 1906, until a maximum of 76 schools with 3,500 students at the beginning of Portugal's republican era (c. 1910). However, of the 76 schools, only 4 were private, whereas the other 72 were designated 'contract schools': i.e. private schools where the institution could enrol their students by paying a quota. In 1945, the school holidays centre was inaugurated.
The construction of the actual Lisbon headquarters started in October 1912 in the presence of Manuel de Arriaga, the first President (1911-1915) of the First Portugese Republic; the construction reached its completionin 1932. Nowadays, it is classified as a monument of public interest.
In 1983, the institution was given the status of Private Institution of Social Solidarity, and since then is supported by the State. In 1989, the Auditorium João Hogan was inaugurated to host debates, shows, and films. Between 2010 and 2013, the Voz do Operário started 4 new primary schools in the Lisbon metropolitan area that are following the method of the Modern School Movement.
Currently, the institution maintains 7 schools in the Lisbna area, with a sportive, cultural, and educational offer available not only for students but also for surrounding communities. The Voz do Operário nowadays has a Home Support Service as well as a day centre for the elderly (both supported by the Social Security Institute), a public bathhouse, and a Social Canteen (part of the Solidarity Network of Social Canteens framed by the Emergency Food Program), a medical office, and a psychology service for the community.