NORTH BERGEN, NJ – (January 24, 2018) Josh Hertzberg, Director of Business Operations for the International Longshoremen’s Association and a member of ILA Local 1804-1, now wears an additional hat: Mayor of Sparta, New Jersey.
Earlier this month, Hertzberg was unanimously voted in by members of the Sparta Township Council to serve as Mayor of Sparta. The mayor of Sparta is chosen by the council each year from among its members and presides over council meetings, speaks on behalf of the council and township and signs documents of on the township’s behalf. Hertzberg is completing his first four-year term on the five-member Sparta Council and had previously served as Deputy mayor.
Josh Hertzberg has long blended careers in government and the labor movement. A lifelong resident of Sparta, Hertzberg began his professional career working for the Department of Justice and later for the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. His assignments included border patrol, Drug Enforcement Authority and Homeland Security.
After retirement from the U.S. Government, Hertzberg went to work at Port Newark at Maher Terminals and became a member of ILA Local 1804-1 in 2006. He later joined the staff at ILA Local 1804-1 and the International.
“It was an honor to serve my country in the capacity I did,” Hertzberg said of his time at the Department of Justice and Homeland Security. “And I am now extremely honored to serve the hard working men and women of the ILA. Now as Mayor of Sparta, I get to serve my local community and give a little back to Sparta which gave so much to me.”
Hertzberg joins a growing list of labor leaders who also hold elected political positions in New Jersey. The New Jersey AFL-CIO, which has built the country’s best Labor Candidates Program, reports that 965 union members achieved election victories since 1997.
Josh Hertzberg is married to Erica Hertzberg. He is the father three sons, Jacob, Jaxon and Callum and a daughter, Elliana.