It’s very naive for anyone to believe that all EK pilots laid off during COVID19 would be called back. The airline has the luxury of choosing who to be called back. Everyone has a record at these kind of airlines. More likely than not, there’s a good reason why someone wasn’t recalled. It could be due to a below standard training record, troubles down route, problems on the line etc.
Airlines used this opportunity to get rid of people (who were a nuisance to the company), as brutal as it sounds. Objectively, it doesn’t sound like it was fair for all pilots laid off but we don’t always know the full story.
Even in the UK, look at BA. They didn’t call back everyone did they, under BALPAs watch? And they started external recruitment.