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A group calling itself the Coalition of Concerned Teachers is threatening strike action if nothing is done about their salaries. According to them, their salaries for the month of October have been slashed or reduced drastically and this has raised concerns among the teachers. Speaking on behalf of the group on Peace News, Mr. Ernest Opoku said when they went to the bank for their October salaries, they realized that between Gh�300.00 and Gh�500.00 have been deducted. "We don�t understand why they will deduct such an amount from our salaries. Teachers in this country are often disdained and it is about time it stops. If efforts are not put in place to correct those anomalies, we will advise ourselves", he told Peace FM. However, Ghana Education Service has issued a press statement explaining what led to the reduction in the salaries of the teachers. According to them, the teachers had a back payment from 2010 and so the reduction means that the teachers have been returned to their basic salaries. Below is a copy of the release: SALARIES OF GES STAFF REDUCE AFTER COMPLETION OF PAYMENT OF ARREARS BY THE CONTROLLER AND ACCOUNTANT GENERAL�S DEPARTMENT (CAGD) The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service have noted with concern complaints by some teachers that there is a sudden decrease in their October salaries. Our enquiry form the Controller and Accountant general�s department (CAGD) revealed that the arrears paid under the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure and the 18% salary increment for Public Sector workers has been completed. It will be recalled that the Ghana Government approved the payment of arrears on the Single Spine Salaries from January 2010, by installment. It also approved payment of arrears in reject of the 18% salary increment with effect from January, 2012. The payment of these arrears was effected simultaneously and ended in September 2012. Consequently all GES Staff on Government pay roll have from October 2012 been reverted to their base salaries under the single spine salary structure. GES Staff are therefore entreated to study their October 2012 pay slips (which are yet to be sent out by the CAGD and compare with previous pay slips which always included the arrears being paid for the particular month. Furthermore, all GES staff who contracted loans from other third party entities who were previously not being deducted, have now been captured and the loan repayments are being deducted from October 2012.