Niraj Warikoo

Detroit Free Press

Speaking Monday night to a cheering crowd at the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 600 hall in Dearborn, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders called to rebuild Flint as he blasted free trade agreements that he said have devastated manufacturing and the middle class in Michigan.

"The middle class is disappearing," Sanders exhorted Monday night. "We don't need unfettered trade. We need fair trade."

Sanders' message connected with the audience inside a union hall known for its long history of activism. The audience often broke out in cheers and chants of "Bernie, Bernie" as Sanders railed against Wall Street, corporations, and trade deals such as NAFTA and TPP.

Under his proposals, he said, "we will create millions of jobs, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure...we will have a trade policy that works for the workers, not just the CEOs of corporate America."

Sanders in Michigan talks economy, trade, environment

"If we can rebuild villages in Iraq and Afghanistan, we can damn well rebuild Flint, Michigan," he said as the crowd erupted in loud cheers.

Sanders touched upon Flint in his remarks, saying the stories of people suffering shocked him.

"It was really unbelievable," he said. "What country am I living in?...Flint is the canary in the coal mine."

Sanders praised the UAW and trade unions, saying they fought to make sure that workers are not treated like "animals," and also fought for social justice for minorities and women.

Sanders noted the photographs that lined the walls of Local 600 in Dearborn, which depict worker struggles such as the 1937 clashes at the Ford Rouge plant between workers and Henry Ford's security force that galvanized the labor movement.

Local 600 represents about 9,000 Ford workers, including those at the sprawling Ford Rouge complex, which is close to the Local 600 hall. The unit is known for being to the left politically of other units of the UAW.

Sanders has sought to portray himself as more committed to workers and unions than rival Hillary Clinton, whose husband supported the NAFTA deal in 1993 that unions have criticized.

"Republicans loved NAFTA," Sanders told the crowd. "Big business loved NAFTA....I was on the picket line in 1992 against NAFTA."

Sanders said he and U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, visited Mexico to see the poor living conditions of Mexican workers.

Sanders also blasted the TPP deal, which Clinton had initially supported. Sanders said companies need to "manufacture...products in this country...We have lost 60,000 factories in America."

Sanders said that under his plan, "we are going to rebuild" our manufacturing in America, not China.

The crowd inside the hall was diverse, with a mix of whites, Arab-American Muslims, Latinos and African-Americans. Many Muslim women who attended wore hijab, the Islamic headscarf, and one prayed in the corner before the rally started. The union hall is located in the south end of Dearborn, a neighborhood that is about 90% Arab-American Muslim.

In his speech, Sanders slammed Donald Trump for his anti-Latino and anti-Muslim remarks, saying that scapegoating minorities is wrong.

The UAW has not yet endorsed Sanders or Clinton, though UAW VP for GM Cindy Estrada has tweeted before in support of Sanders. During the campaign, both candidates have spoken at UAW halls in states across the country. Hundreds packed the hall at Local 600, with many in an overflow room, unable to get into the main hall to see Sanders speak.

Sanders was introduced by the head of Local 600, Bernie Ricke, who heaped praise on Sanders for his commitment to justice and unions.

Sanders is for "social and economic justice," Ricke said. Sanders knows that "collective bargaining created the middle class."

Sanders also touched upon other issues in his speech that he has discussed in other campaign stops: affordable college education, Wall Street reforms, affordable health care, and gender equity in pay. He linked these issues to the struggles of trade unions, saying that the history of America is in many ways the history of trade unions.

Sanders also slammed America's criminal justice system and the abuse of minorities by some police.

"We have more people in jail than any other country on Earth," he said. We need to invest in jobs, "not jails and incarceration."

Dearborn Police have shot dead two African-American Detroiters since Dec. 23, prompting rallies in recent weeks.

Sanders said that if he's elected, "we are going to bring major police department reforms to this country. All of us are tired of seeing those cell phone videos on TV of people who are unarmed being killed by police officers."

Sanders added that most police officers do their jobs well, but "like any other public official, if a police officer breaks the law, that officer must be held accountable. We have got to demilitarize...police departments. We have got to make police departments look like the diversity of the communities they are serving."

Sanders acknowledged that he has critics who say to him: "You're Santa Claus giving away a lot of free stuff," but he said he will pay for some of his plans with taxes on Wall Street speculators.

He concluded by telling the crowd: "We are going to win Michigan."

As the crowd roared, a Bruce Springsteen song then blared: "Wherever this flag is flown, we take care of our own."

Staff writer Brent Snavely contributed to this report

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or 313-223-4792. Follow him on Twitter @nwarikoo