Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Nynex Telephone Workers OK Pact

Nynex telephone workers, on strike since August, ratified a contract negotiated after 3 1/2 months of bitter talks, marking the final settlement of strikes against regional telephone companies. Eighty-five percent of the 40,000 union workers approved the contract in voting that began Monday. The workers planned to return to work Monday. Strikes were staged against four of the Baby Bell companies formed in the breakup of AT&T--Nynex;, Pacific Telesis, Ameritech and Bell Atlantic. The key issue in the Nynex talks dealt with the company’s insistence that workers share part of their health costs. The final settlement did not include any health-cost sharing.