Mis-representation? I don't think so. Dissect the entire post and tell me just how a "cut-back on ground crews" realistically was a major contributing factor in any of the delays.
In the first example 15 minutes waiting on the inbound aircraft, 20 minutes waiting for a new ground crew and finally 15 minutes waiting for a gate at DFW. The OP sated the 20 minute delay was due to a shift change. That's not because of a crew shortage but just bad timing.
Now on the return perhaps the loading of baggage could have gone faster and perhaps if they had another pair of hands that may have helped. Who knows for sure. But as for the mechanical delay I really don't feel that an hour is unreasonable. First the cause of the indicator light has to be determined. Is it just a faulty indicator or is there actually a fault in the system? If so what's wrong and what parts are required? Then they'll have to fetch the parts which may or may not be readily available on the ramp. Then there's the actual work to replace the part and test it. Then there's the paperwork. It's been my experience that sometimes the paperwork phase takes the longest! I believe as a safety check they need to have a supervisory mechanic check the work and sign off as well. Then sometimes the pilot will want or need to inspect everything. Again I'd rather everything be checked and double checked rather than find out in mid-air that the problem wasn't fixed correctly.
Yes there have been cuts across the board of all airline workers at most US airlines. The fact is, though, that there have also been capacity cuts as well. AA has planes parked all over the place and is accelerating the retirement of some older aircraft. When you account for the number of aircraft that remain in active service the cuts to the affected work force has been proportional.
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