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,

Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas went on a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.

In the first strike, all East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, in almost 50 years, dockworkers from Maine to Texas walked out on strike at midnight this morning. The International Longshoremen’s Association represents some 40,000 dockworkers at 36 ports who are demanding higher wages and guarantees that jobs won’t be automated.