MISSOULA, Mont. – The Iowa-based Lee newspaper chain shut down its recently acquired Missoula Independent, pulling the rug out from under employees who were organizing a union. The decision left Missoula a one-paper town with only Lee’s daily Missoulian. Lee’s explanation: The Independent was too heavy a financial burden to maintain. Lee has a long anti-union tradition. In 1980, when Lee acquired Winona, Minnesota, Daily News from the White family, the company immediately fired every employee, all of whom were union members, and told them to reapply for their jobs the next day. The new salaries were a fraction of the union scale.