It's a very sad topic but you did say they were hired on 1 year contracts. As much as I hate seeing anyone lose their job, knowing the airline situation at the moment did they think they would be guaranteed employment after the contract?
Contract work is something that is becoming more and more prevelant in our industry, sadly. If things are going well then maybe cantracts will be extended but I wouldn't pin my hopes on anything after the contract period.
As these crew being layed off have actually been trained and employed for the 1 year period does this help them if employment opportunities come up in the future. It costs an airline a lot of money to train crew, surely the company would call on them first in the future if they were needed.