NZ teachers go on strike

New species of orchid found in Peruvian jungle Thousands challenge Labour government in pay rise dispute

LIma: Botanists have discovered a new species of orchid in Peru’s central Amazonian rainforest, the country’s national parks service announced.

“The new species of orchid was recently discovered in the Tingo Maria National Park” in the Huanuco region, the parks service SERNANP said on Tuesday.

The orchid is classified as belonging to the Andinia genus and was discovered in the area of the Bella Durmiente (Spanish for Sleeping Beauty) mountain, which is a prominent feature of the Tingo Maria National Park, it said in a statement.

Set in the middle of Peru, the area is marked by mild weather with an annual average temperature of 20°C.

Fragrant and delicately beautiful, there are around 30,000 different species of orchid around the world, around 10% of them in Peru.

Around 240 can be found in the Tingo Maria National Park, which was created in 1965.

“This kind of discovery highlights the natural heritage of the country and demonstrates the good standard of conservation of the park,” said director of the national park Lorenzo Flores.

The orchid was given the name Andinia tingomariana by the US Department of Biologicial and Ecological Organisms in honour of the protected natural area.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand school teachers went on strike for the first time in more than 20 years, challenging the Labour government’s plans to balance promised fiscal responsibility against growing demands to increase public sector salaries.

Almost 30,000 primary school teachers did not turn up to work and held protests across the country yesterday, leaving parents of roughly 400,000 children aged five to 13 at public schools scrambling to find childcare.

“Teachers and principals voted for a fullday strike ... to send a strong message to the government that the current collective agreement offers from the Ministry of Education would not fix the crisis in teaching,” said Louise Green, lead negotiator at NZEI, the union that represents teachers, in a statement.

The stand-off with its traditional union support base comes nine months after Labour formed a coalition government, promising to pour money into social services and rein in inequality, which has increased despite years of strong growth.

NZEI said it has asked for a 16% pay rise for teachers over two years, whereas the government has offered between 6.1% and 14.7%, depending on experience, over three years.

The action comes in the wake of a one-day nationwide nurses’ strike in July and a series of smaller actions by government workers, challenging Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s centre-left government.

Arden made a surprise appearance outside parliament yesterday with a group of ministers to welcome the more than 1,000 protesting teachers.

“There is no you and us, there is only us,” she said on Television New Zealand footage.

“The only point we would make is unfortu- nately sometimes radical change takes time. So I’m here today to ask you to work with us as we try and move forward.”

Wage growth has remained sluggish in the island nation for years, despite soaring housing costs, which labour groups and economists say has left workers struggling despite robust growth.

Labour has put raising workers’ wages at the heart of its policies, lifting the minimum hourly wage by five per cent to NZ$16.50 (RM44.47) in April, with further plans to hike it to NZ$20 (RM53.90) by 2021, as well as rolling back restrictions on union bargaining power.

Business confidence in New Zealand is at a 10-year low and economists and the central bank are worried higher wages could hamper growth if firms hold off on further investment.