I heard from the DFO that the number returning was very small, 12 if I recall correctly. My opinion is that they wanted to refuse them all to continue the "resign and it's forever" threat, but have just enough back to encourage all the defectors to NAS to apply to come back because they could then boast about how lucky we are to be at RYR and how bad it is everywhere else - if they left the usual flat rejection of all returnees, less would apply and so they couldn't play that propaganda card. Just a cynical guess on my part.
The DFO also stated that the over 400 pilots (450ish, IIRC - same speech several months ago) was well within budget and below expectation. The interesting thing was the very quick and deliberate insertion of "Ryanair": "only 400(+) RYANAIR pilots resigned in the last year". So, how many from Brookfield and Storm, given that most captains are RYR and almost all FOs contractors, with a much higher resignation rate? How many gone from the line, regardless of their technical employer?
That's why new applicants are having a better chance of a decent base, I suspect.