Wilson Choice for Minimum Wage Board Rejected : Commissions: Democrats scuttle reappointment of two-term member. Organized labor had attacked her as hostile to low-income workers.

Senate Democrats heeded the pleas of organized labor Wednesday and rejected the reappointment of Gov. Pete Wilson’s candidate to the agency that sets the state’s minimum wage.

On a party-line vote, the three Democrats on the Senate Rules Committee prevailed over the committee’s two Republicans to scuttle the confirmation of Lynnel Pollock, who was seeking a third term on the state Industrial Welfare Commission as a representative of employers.

Pollock, a Yolo County Republican and grain and walnut farmer, drew strong support from the California business community, including manufacturers, farmers, truckers, restaurant operators, and the hotel and motel industry.

But organized labor, led by John Henning, secretary-treasurer of the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, attacked Pollock as hostile to low-income workers for opposing increases in the minimum wage during her 11 years on the commission.

J. P. Tremblay, a spokesman for Wilson, said it was “unfortunate” that Democrats rejected Pollock, especially after the Senate had twice previously confirmed her for the post. “Nothing’s changed,” he said.

Outside the committee hearing room, Henning and other labor representatives were clearly happy with their victory as the election-year legislative session gets under way. Tremblay said it was too early to say whether other Wilson appointees to politically sensitive posts might face similar trouble.

Since 1988, the California minimum wage has been $4.25 an hour. Pollock told the Rules Committee she voted once, in 1987, to increase the minimum level to $4 an hour but was outvoted when other commissioners favored the higher $4.25 level.

She said that during tough economic times employers could not afford to pay higher wages.

Henning told the committee that Pollock was insensitive to low-wage employees and asserted that rather than increasing the minimum wage, she favored diverting such workers into “welfare dependents.”

Under questioning by committee members, Pollock conceded that many low-income workers with large families and limited skills are “hurting” but suggested that government programs such as job training and Aid to Families With Dependent Children are available to them.

Henning said that the commission’s support of the 12-hour workday in California puts a hardship on single mothers and places “their kids on the streets at night.” Pollock countered that flexible hours such as a 12-hour workday often are demanded by employees.

Senate leader David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) told Pollock that her record on supporting minimum wage increases was “just too meager” for him to support her for another term.

Members of the part-time commission are paid $100 per meeting and expenses.