I am on Unix-Solaris with Oracle 9i

I want to pass a parameter (timezone) into a sqlloader control file.

The line I need the parameter to go into is:
PHP Code:
        MKT_PRICE_DT "new_time(to_date(:MKT_PRICE_DT,'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS'),'$1','GMT')", 
Our timezone changes from EDT to EST and I want to automate this.
I tried using:
`date +'%Z'`
also tried hardcoding a parameter in the shell script:
timezone=$(date +'%Z')

I keep getting errors.
Any advice or assistance is helpful. Thanks.