One way to solve all this nonsense...commuting or opening of crew bases in Europe/N America. Heaven forbid people would spend their hard earned cash in their own countries though!
Plenty of people spend the bare minimum already in-country on the basis that if anything goes wrong, you have cash, and access to it from offshore.
Regarding EKs crewing crisis, cos that's what it is now, they would rather have guys with no jet time occupying a seat than paying for experienced operators and improving the QOL for existing crew.
It should show ANY perspective interviewees what kind of a place EK is in terms of management style and how you will be viewed/treated as an employee.