Dockworkers at dozens of U.S. ports are digging in for a massive pay increase, seeking to flex their power in a strike that aims to strangle the flow of trade across much of the country.“This is going down in history what we’re doing here,

Transportation and warehousing sectors are poised to first feel the pinch, with a broader economic fallout expected if the strike drags on.

The strike by 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association has shut down Boston and 35 other seaports on the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts, which handle about half of all US seaborne trade.