Shop Steward Spotlight: Marco Zarate

By Stephen Lynch

Every Monday through Friday, Marco Zarate gets up early in the morning and drives the 86 miles from his house in Moreno Valley to his job with CSI Electric in Palmdale. Then after a long eight-and-a-half-hour day of working as a journeyman electrician and serving as a shop steward, the 48-year-old returns home to his wife and three children.

It’s a tedious and time-consuming trip, but one the 15-year member of IBEW 11 doesn’t begrudge having to make. Zarate loves his job and greatly appreciates all that being a union electrician has meant for him and his family.

Zarate, who grew up and graduated from high school in Mexico, moved to the United States with his mother and three younger siblings in 1994.

Soon afterward, Zarate enrolled at Imperial Valley College where he worked toward getting a degree and played soccer. A standout on the pitch, Zarate was offered an athletic scholarship by San Diego State but instead started a family and got married.

In 1997 Zarate moved to Fontana where he got a job doing concrete construction work. He later moved on to helping do non-union electrical work, which eventually led him to join IBEW 11 and start his 5-year apprenticeship in 2012.

One of the things that appealed to Zarate about joining the union and its electrical training program was that he was able to learn about the trade in the classroom while also getting hands-on experience and earning a much-needed paycheck.

The pay and benefits that his union job helps provide are still something that Zarate considers a huge blessing and are a main reason he joined the union. He really appreciates that as a member of IBEW 11 he doesn’t have to go it alone when it comes to getting pay increases and other allowances in the compensation package contract negotiated by the union.

“Before I joined the union, we would have to beg for a raise,” Zarate said. “The last raise that I got (before joining the union) was 25 cents (an hour). What I like about the union is that we’re together. We vote together for what we want, and we fight together for what we need. It’s not just one guy deciding our future.”

Highly involved in the union and possessing innate leadership skills, Zarate was approached about possibly becoming a shop steward by IBEW District 5 Business Rep Mitch Klein last year. Zarate agreed to take on the role which he began back in August.

“When I was doing concrete, I was a foreman,” Zarate said. “I’m not afraid of being in a leadership position at all.”

Being a shop steward requires Zarate to serve as a liaison between the 60 other people that work out of his shop and the union.

“I’m there for them in case they have any questions about our union or about our agreement,” Zarate said. “…Whenever they have questions about anything it’s my job to be there to answer them in the best way I can. I’m also there to make sure the union members are treated equally and that union rules are followed.”

Zarate says the biggest challenge about being a shop steward is trying to get everyone to attend once-a-month meetings.

For Zarate, there are no challenges that keep him from enjoying his job.

“I love being a union electrician,” Zarate said. “It’s not that I like it. I love it…Being part of IBEW 11 is one of the best things that has happened to me. I’ve been able to do a lot of things. I’ve been able to support my family. I’ve been able to provide my two daughters and son better opportunities. It has allowed me to save money, go on trips with my wife and kids and help them (my children) when they’ve needed it. Being in the union has been a blessing to me.”

For Zarate, it makes that long drive to work every day much more bearable.