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An online portal site devoted to ``irregular workers,'' referring to part-timers, temporary and daily laborers, opened yesterday, declaring to make all possible efforts to protect the interests of those workers who have been alienated.

The Web site, called ``Working Voice,'' is intended to defend those irregular workers who remain shuttered from corporate welfare benefits, state social security measures and people who are unable to utter a single complaint because of their unstable job security. ``Irregular workers receive an average of 60 to 70 percent compared to regular workers,'' said Park Sung-heup, who heads the operation of the Web site (www.workingvoice.net).

The flagship section of the site is the ``webzine'' where vivid testimonies and complaints from irregular workers, who have been alienated from the established media, are featured. At the same time, editorials from labor activists such as Kim Keum-soo will be posted on the webzine.

In the website's ``119 center,'' labor affairs experts will consult irregular workers about labor-related laws and other problems arising from their unstable job status for free.

Irregular workers represent one of the country's most neglected groups although they account for more than half of the total workers.

Irregular workers occupied 50 percent for the first time last September as companies rushed to replace regular workers with irregular ones in the wake of the country's economic crisis in late 1997. And such trends have been kept since then.

According to a survey of 542 irregular workers conducted by labor researcher Hong Joo-hwan, 59.8 percent of those who responded failed to receive bonuses. Furthermore, 44 percent and 46 percent of them failed to receive severance pays and overtime allowances, respectively.

Labor unions, in general, have also been indifferent to irregular workers. Only 10 percent of the companies plan to let them join their labor union.

Against this backdrop, for the first time, the progressive Korean Confederation of Trade Unions raised the issue of irregular workers during Saturday's pre-May Day rally. The KCTU is allegedly gearing up to put more irregular workers on regular payrolls and guarantee three labor rights for them.

The Web site may have an ultimate bid to put together irregular workers. Emphases will be placed on helping like-minded online users to form meetings, which would lead to the creation of a network linking all irregular networks through the Web site.