GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The president and CEO of Lacks Enterprises is warning his company's 2,300 employees their paychecks will be smaller if President Barack Obama is re-elected.

Richard Lacks urged his employees to “vote to improve your standard of living” in a letter notifying them of their sixth bonus in almost three years thanks to the good times his automotive parts company has enjoyed.

But Lacks was not about to give Obama any credit for the auto industry’s recovery. He told his employees the Affordable Care Act, which he called Obama Care, will raise his company’s health insurance costs by 2 percent a year.

“As employees, you will receive no additional direct benefit other than you will have to pay for it,” said Lacks in a letter he sent to hourly employees last Friday.

“The talk of additional tax increases by the administration, if re-elected, will have an additional negative impact on the organization,” he wrote. “ It is always important to remember the more government takes the less there will be available to spread around to the working people of this company.

“It is important that in November you vote to improve your standard of living and that will be through smaller government and less government,” Lacks said in a letter that was leaked to MLive.com.

Jim Green, executive director of Human Resources for Lacks Enterprises, said the letter was sent out as “internal business communication” announcing a lump sum bonus to all employees. He declined to disclose the size of the bonus.

Green said the company suspended its profit sharing and bonuses in 2008 when the auto industry when into a “meltdown.”

Although the Obama Administration has taken credit for the automotive industry’s recovery, Green said the privately-held company did not benefit from the administration’s actions to bail out the auto industry.

“We survived because of our business model and the money we have in the bank to survive these downturns,” Green said. “It would not have provided Lacks with any direct dollars.”

Lacks Enterprises is a global manufacturer with three business units including Lacks Wheel Trim Systems Inc., Lacks Trim Systems Inc., and Plastic-Plate Inc.

In March, the company announced plans to build a new $31.9 million manufacturing plant and warehouse on 60 acres it owns near 60th Street and Kraft Avenue SE in Cascade Township.

The new plant, which will create 120 new jobs, will make chrome-plated parts for Lacks customers in the automotive and appliance industry. A key ingredient in Lacks’ decision was a $350,000 incentive by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to assist Lacks in the development.

In April, Lacks announced plans to invest $999,745 in a new Milacron molding press and additional support equipment at its Kentwood plant at 4365 52nd St.SE.

E-mail Jim Harger: jharger@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JHHarger