DEAD LOAD

Dead Load. Unofficial Bridge Circular. Issue 04 / Night shift edition.

A paper by the workers’ collective of the Intercontinental Transatlantic Bridge. News, notes, and mutual aid across the spans.

The lights stay on. Who gets to sleep?

Below the traffic, above the water.

Hours not recorded

Night work keeps the Bridge moving, but too much of it never makes it into the official time. We patch, tighten, clear, babysit the systems, and cover for short crews — then find our extra hours missing from the logs. It’s not an accounting error; it’s how they keep costs down and us running on empty. We’re collecting reports from every section. Send your unrecorded hours to the Collective box (Lower Deck B, Tool Crib) so we can press for proper credit, rest cycles, and enough crew on nights.

Shift report (Form M-17), section C-3 (Truss). Supervisor: N. Reyes. Crew: N. Reyes / K. Dole / M. Chen. Hours recorded: 8.0. Hours actual: corrected to 12.5. Handwritten note: “Log the real hours.”

Lower deck rehearsal — all crews welcome

The Bridge never really sleeps. After shift, some of us keep the lights on another way — a rehearsal in the spare equipment room on the lower deck. Different crews, same deal: loud, tired, and alive. Music helps shake off the fatigue and keeps us a crew, not just a shift roster.

Corrections to the official record

• Claim: “All maintenance is current.” Reality: Section C-3 still down a patch crew.
• Claim: “Rest periods are met.” Reality: Repeated overnights this month.
• Claim: “Worker input is ongoing.” Reality: Safety proposals from Deck B are still unanswered.

Pass this copy on. Workers’ Collective — Intercontinental Transatlantic Bridge.