Christine Mary Keates (born 10 October 1951[1]) is a British trade unionist.
Keates grew up in Stoke-on-Trent and attended Thistley Hough Girls' School, a girls' grammar school now called Thistley Hough Academy, before studying Archaeology and History at the University of Leicester, then completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of Birmingham.
[3] At the time, she was the only woman to lead any of the ten largest unions in the UK.
[2] As leader of the NASUWT, Keates initially pursued a policy of co-operation with the Labour government, signing a workload agreement, in contrast to the rival National Union of Teachers (NUT).
[2] However, she was highly critical of the Conservative-led governments from 2010 onwards, working with the NUT to oppose changes which she described as an "unparalleled vicious assault" on teachers.