Fullforward,
If you want a job with EK, don't let your pride get in the way. If you really WANT the job, you should have no problem considering hopping into the right seat for a wee while. The bloke on your left won't treat you like a rookie. You would be treated like a person the captain is flying with. If you have so much experience and have been a captain elsewhere for so many years, that is by no means going to make the guy on your left think any less of you.
Are you from North America? The description of a first officer and a captain is very different over there than in Europe/Mid East/Australia. I read an interesting article in Airliners or Airways magasine on the road to being a captain. The article is based on flying in the US, and kept emphasising if you are a new first officer, your main job was to set the flaps, raise the gear and do a good job filling out the paperwork. If you were LUCKY, the captain may allow you to land, but only in the finest of weather. This is not the same over in Europe and the Mid east. The two guys up front take on an equal amount of work. Unless the weather is FAR too hazerdous for a ROOKIE F/O, the flying works on the captain flying one leg, F/O the next and it carries on alternating like that. No waiting to see if the captain will allow you to take off or land. Its standard procedure to allow both pilots to alternate with each sector. Yes, the captain is in charge and has the last say, of course, but it is more of an equal team effort in the flight deck.
I am not an EK pilot, but hope to get the chance some day in the future. I know a good few EK pilots, mostly captains and they are a good bunch of folks. Not the type of guys who will say "shut up, Im the captain, Ive got four stripes. Do what I say!" With your type of seniority, you couldn't be treated with any less respect than an equal other on the flight deck. Dubai is an awsome place, with great people, great lifestyle and an airline with the finest fleet of planes in the world. If you have the oppertunity to join, sod the pride aspect. There is nothing wrong with sitting in the right seat for a while and with (what sounds like) a big salary and package increase, you would be daft not to make a go at it.
Good Luck
BYB