diff --git a/manifests/00_namespace.yaml b/manifests/00_namespace.yaml
index bec3b3d2a..a65053c51 100644
--- a/manifests/00_namespace.yaml
+++ b/manifests/00_namespace.yaml
@@ -8,5 +8,6 @@ metadata:
     openshift.io/node-selector: ""
     workload.openshift.io/allowed: "management"
   labels:
+    openshift.io/run-level: "" # specify no run-level turns it off on install and upgrades
     openshift.io/cluster-monitoring: "true"
   name: openshift-apiserver-operator