The 20 nursery nurses, who were represented by the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA), held a half-day strike on 15 January because they had not received an incremental increase in pay for more than 15 years.
They work at two sites in College Gardens and Rugby Road in the city attended by 70 children of staff and students, and are employed by the university and managed by its students' union.
A NIPSA ballot resulted in 100 per cent support for the half-day strike.
Negotiations continued between the public service union and the university, and on 21 January the staff were offered and accepted a 7 per cent pay increase over two years from this April, backdated in part to April 2003, plus cost of living allowance.
Linda Best, supervisor at the Rugby Road creche and its NIPSA representative, said, 'I have worked here for more than 17 years and I have never had a pay increase, apart from just the cost of living. We decided to take action after we learned that we were getting far less than nursery assistants working in schools, even though we were doing the same job but had more responsibilities.
'The university goes on about how valuable a resource the creche is, but they didn't value the staff. We felt undervalued. We didn't take going on strike lightly. Some parents were very supportive and even joined us on the picket line.
'We are quite happy with what we have got. Everyone is happy now.'
Sylvia McCoy, the NIPSA representative at the creche in College Gardens, added, 'The university wasn't going to back down, but our union rep managed to get a bit more money out of them. But really we want to be put on the pay scale.'
The pay rise means that from this April, creche supervisors will be on a salary of 13,335 and from April 2006 the assistants will be on Pounds 11,706.
A Queens University spokesman said, 'The University is very pleased that the dispute at the Students' Union creche has been resolved. Staff at the creche will continue to enjoy pay and conditions that are among the best in the sector.'
