Not so much in defense of Gibson, but these points probably describe way more than half of US companies:
Financial troubles in the early '80s -- not very unique.
Layoffs in 2009 -- good grief! Who didn't?
Recent complaints about slipping quality -- yeah, that singles them out, doesn't it ?
And the Lacey Act a "key" piece of environmental law? Seriously?

Stringsinger, this piece is masquerading as objective reporting, so no, there is no place in it for personal diatribe. Although you're perfectly welcome to express it here.
By the way, how do you get from the vague statement about layoffs in that article to your statement about their practices being exploitative and personally offensive? Do you have another source for that?
-G