Have you ever heard of the Peter principle?
Unfortunately, I believe this is a major issue in our local union, and probably many locals around the country. Just because someone is a good steward doesn't mean they will be a good BA. A good BA won't always transition into, or be able to grow into a good VP or president.
You keep saying that these things can be addressed on the local level, and in a perfect world they would be. Right now our local has their head in the sand believing the company isn't going to abuse contractors, and that 22.4 drivers won't take work from RPCD's. Meanwhile, the company is already playing games to set up contractor abuse in feeders and we haven't even voted.
That's why I think this needed to be addressed in the master. Why not let the big shots and their high dollar lawyers take care of this instead of putting this on locals to fix in their supplements? Some locals aren't fortunate enough to have strong leadership and change takes time.