It is a lowball offer and, if I had to guess, was highly modified by senior management and accountants. They want the best of both worlds - more productivity AND lower costs and they think pilots will accept it.
Korean is the basic standard for a commuting contract. So why would anyone accept the EK version, which is not even in the same league??
EK could put together a cargo contract that would serve both the pilots AND the company:
1) Keep current pay
2) 19 ON/11 OFF - travel on outside days
3) No housing allowance (saves the co. 150-190,000 dhms a year)
4) No schooling - you are commuting and in your home country
5) No family health plan - don't know the savings but it is substantial
6) Basic provident fund/UAE requirements
7) Confirmed travel to and from DXB is a cost as is the hotel days while in DXB
In this scenario both the company and the pilot benefit. The company save money overall while the pilot gets the commuting contract.
Now get even more creative. You could DH the pilot from his home to the START of any trip outside of DXB. As an example- a trip starts out of AMS you send a European based pilot to start his month in AMS instead of DXB where he would DH back out.
Few if any will stay at EK for what they are offering when there are far better offers out there. Even with the example above the Korean contract is better due to the tax nature and tax paid features which reduce tax liabilty for most nations.